We're Finally Wireless

Tonight we finally got back to our bench top test that we started back before Christmas. When we last worked on this, we were able to control the cRIO and drive our motors, but everything was tethered together with network cables. We hadn't configured our wireless network, nor had we downloaded any custom software to the controller.

Tonight we finished up the final few steps in the "wired" bench top test and then moved on to configuring the wireless network. In the wireless configuration we have a standard 802.11n router that is plugged into the driver station. The driver station is where we plug in the joysticks and this broadcasts our commands through the router to the robot, wirelessly.

From FRC 2009 Hardware

We have a network bridge that sits on the robot and is connected to the cRIO. The bridge communicates with the cRIO and other devices on the robot, such as our video camera. The cRIO also is responsible for running the software and eventually controlling the motors.

From FRC 2009 Hardware

Again, my advice for any team working through this process is to follow the directions completely and in order. We got ahead of ourselves at a few points which caused a little bit of troubleshooting, but in the end we worked through all the problems.

From FRC 2009 Hardware

We finished up tonight by downloading some customized code and proving that our changes were indeed working. We have accomplished a lot and have had only minor issues with the new hardware. Had we followed the directions, I doubt that we would have had any issues.

I am also happy to say that almost all of the work tonight was done by our students. They were able to modify the hardware and software as we needed and all of their efforts proved successful. We have a great team this year and I'm proud of our students for working hard, asking questions and solving problems. That is really what FIRST is all about.