What types of training resources would help you get started with new controller?

[MarkBlack]

Rob,

There are a lot of training resources on ni.com. So many that giving you a huge laundry list of links would likely be unhelpful. My best recommendation, if you are interested at looking at the training resources we already have, is to search a particular topic on ni.com. If there is nothing on that topic or if the topic is overly advanced or confusing we want to hear about it!

[Brad Miller]

Can you discribe the default code that we will get from FIRST for LabVIEW and C? This year we got default code from FIRST for C and we usually had to just plug our PWMs into the right spot and we would have a moving robot. How will the referies interfere with our robot if they want to disable us? (again, if you can release this information)

The default code for next year will consist of a number of resources:

1. Libraries that will help you access the parts on your robot like sensors and motors, driver station values, and field settings. C/C++ library will be designed so you simply add your code to Autonomous() or OperatorControl() functions/methods that will be called at the right times during the competition. You'll also be able to control the state of the robot from switches on the driver station. All the C and LabVIEW source code will be open source so all teams will be able to review, modify, and hopefully suggest improvements back to the authors.

2. Many sample programs that will demonstrate the use of all the components of the libraries.

3. And other code still being developed

You can use the libraries as is by calling the functions/classes from your programs or you are free to grab the source code and modify the libraries to meet your requirements. Although the hope is the code is sufficiently extensible that you can customize it without modifying the source code.

Brad

[davidfv]

Great Idea.

If there are teams that have set up a training course using the NI resources it would be great to post it here so others may follow it.

In My NOT SO HUMBLE OPINION...NI and FIRST should release the basic code during the fall since this is a big change from the past. That way teams can start working and understanding the basic code for controlling the robots.

David

Mentor Team 399

LA Regional Chairman Award Winners 2007, 2008

[MarkBlack]

David,

In addition to the online training already avaliable for LabVIEW, National Instruments is developing training that is specific to the CompactRIO and VI libraries that will be shipped with the kit of parts. This training should be avaliable before the kits ship. The code should be faily intuitive and easy to implement especially if you have already become familiar with the LabVIEW IDE and LabVIEW coding concepts.

The goal of the switch from C/C++ to LabVIEW is to encourage teams to focus on higher level engineering problems and speed up the code development process.

-Mark

[Mitchell]

I think that it would great if the teams got softwear with a pre- created eathernet conection to the robot for easy aplication creation.

[davidfv]

<span class="jive-thread-reply-body-container">Mark:

The key to make this change over a success is your statement of "This training should be available before the kits ship." It is already July and the summer is slipping away. Our schools start August 11th and we would like to have a good 4 months of training prior to kick-off. We should not wait till the whole training is put together but just release it in moduals that we can get going... The bad part is lack of access to the CRio hardware to "play" with...

[JWilson98]

The most helpful, free, self contained set of slides and exercises for learning LabVIEW is the "Teach LabVIEW in 6 Hours" material from http://www.ni.com/academic/resources_how_teach_lv.htm. It covers core LabVIEW topics that are extensible to LabVIEW Real-Time and FPGA that are used in CompactRIO.

[cabbagekid2]

Questions for 1.

Does that default code apply only to C/C++ or to Labview also? Will Labview be coming out with default code or will it be like EasyC where it's so easy to use that you can just start programing from scratch looking at the examples?

Also, when you say teams will be able to control the state of their robot from the driver station, I assume that is for autonomous testing during the build season. Are we able to set the channel that the robot is operating from the driver station as well to operate two robots at once?

If teams are just starting to learn Labview, how does the FRC edition differ (other than the examples that will be included)?

[pallen]

When I'm trying something new, I love to see specifics. That is; someone going through all the steps to do either exactly what I'm trying to do, or something close enough that I can pick up what I need.

The videos are great!

Live desktop captures with audio are really great too. (We use CamStudio)

A nice thing to see is how to get started with a new piece of hardware literally right out of the box. Unpack it. Connect it. Get data.

This stuff is all easy once you've done it. But for first time users to new hardware it could save a lot of time.

[mjcoss]

My biggest concern is that my students are not inclined to use Labview and want to use C/C++ (well they want to use C++ and I'd rather they used C). How do we prep the kids to write code in a vacuum? Access to a framework, and a simulator would be fantastic. I'm concerned that we are going to find ourselves in January with having to use default code, and the learning curve is going to be awful. I'd really like to have some way to prep the kids before January.

Any suggestions would be helpful.