
Functional Cookies: These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalization. These cookies do not store any personally identifiable information. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. Strictly Necessary Cookies: (Always Active) These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. After we finish updating our website, you will be able to set your cookie preferences. It also gives me a chance to thank teams for letting me into their world.Analog Devices is in the process of updating our website. Troubleshooting is a huge part of that game from my point of view. Practice day (I’m Regionals) is not just practice time for your robot/drive team on a real field, but it is also practice for us field people to “get back into the game”. We haven’t been looking at that robot since January, so we may spot things that are obvious, but not necessarily to you since that thing is your baby. Power path problems are something that is entirely avoidable and I even have it in my driver’s meeting notes for teams to please ask myself, my FTAA, a CSA, the LRI, to come take a look at the power on the robot and see if there is anything standing out that we can spot.
Screensteps live frc 2016 full#
Don’t really pull it, as you can cause internal damage, just a light tensioning will work.īy all means, use the PoE adapter as well (please make the port the roboRIO is plugged into easy to get to though for troubleshooting without having to power cycle the bot), but please don’t just think the barrel connector is the sole cause of radio reboots without looking into the rest of the power path from battery forward.Īs an FTA that is a HUGE fan of this program, I REALLY want to see 6 robots running on my field for the full 2:30 every match. To secure the barrel connector, simply put some tension on the wire and tape it back onto the radio itself. Since the breaker lugs are normally covered with tape and whatnot, teams forget that it is there when they are checking connection points. Every other time I have found a power problem somewhere else in the path, more often than not, at the breaker itself (battery, VRM, PDP VRM ports - being the probable order after that).

So far since the OM5P was introduced, and not counting it being ripped out by another bot or snagging something on the field itself (yes, I’ve seen the PoE adapter destroyed), I have witnessed a SINGLE time on the field where the barrel connector was the actual problem when a robot disconnected and the radio was rebooting (the connector turned out to be the wrong size).
Screensteps live frc 2016 code#
Having a second set means you can build a test platform for programmers to test code while waiting to get the real robot, you can build a spare robot (or even just a drivetrain) for driving practice if you have the resources, and you have spare parts if anything breaks.īut my point was don’t rely on just the barrel connector, that is a well known point of failure many teams have experienced.

That being said, it’s a very good idea to get a second set of electronics. For a rookie team, the only thing that you will probably need to get more of are motor controllers everything else (roboRIO, radio, PDP, VRM, PCM, main breaker, RSL, and a few motor controllers) should come in your kit of parts. If you treat them with care and aren’t reckless with them, they should last you a while. The components of the FRC control system in general are built pretty robustly.

When you’re done, be sure to lift the covering straight up so you carry the shavings away instead of dumping them right back into your electronics. Just lay some piece of plastic, fabric, or even clothing over the electronics to catch the metal shavings as they fall. That being said, you should always cover your electronics while drilling on your robot. And in the event that you do break your roboRIO, NI has amazing customer service to repair/replace it at minimal cost. But I wouldn’t call them “very fragile.” It’s actually fairly difficult to destroy a roboRIO compared to your average piece of electronics. RoboRIOs certainly don’t like getting metal shavings inside them. One thing we learned a few years ago was that your RoboRio can be very fragile.
