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

[Deirdre]

At NI, we are creating technical documents, videos and other materials to help you succeed with the new FRC controller, NI CompactRIO. Send us your thoughts and recommendations on what types of content would be most helpful.

[tseres]

realistically, the best thing i think you guys could create is more tutorials like the "hands-on" one already. IMO, the biggest challenge faced by teams for the next FRC season is learning LabVIEW. not that it's overly hard, but i believe that that will be the make-or-break of teams. so, i guess more tutorials on just the basics of LabVIEW relating to the cRIO and FIRST.

[Sarah_R]

Hey tseres,

That is really great feedback. We are definitely working on more tutorials. They are currently being developed. If there are any specific topics within LabVIEW that you are interested in, please let us know. The tutorials are coming shortly.

Keep the feedback coming. It is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Sarah S

[LabViewEnthusiast]

It would be helpful if you can show us how to use the NI Compact Rio. This extremely broad, so let me give some examples.

Tutorials on how to program the cRio, specifically how to use the cRio "addon/toolkit/driver" that comes with the cRio for LabVIEW

How we will be connecting to the cRio and communicating with it. I understand we will be using a wireless connection, but how will we program that connection and how can we use it?

How to us the digital sidecar (I think that's what it's called) to convert I/O into PWM I/O.

Maybe some recommended ways on how to switch from autonomous mode to teleoperated mode?

And don't forget all the C users out there.

Thanks alot, I think this community that you've set up is really nice.

[Myrlem]

As a mentor, the biggest assistance would be a fall series of tutorials in bite sized pieces. By the time the controller and bot came out, the teams would have the concept understood and will have asked all of the obvious questions.

The other contribution would be possibly releasing beta default programming ahead of the robot release to allow experimentation in fundamental LabVIEW programming.

The program looks very robust.

Thank You

Myrle McLernon

Team 2339

[LabViewEnthusiast]

I thought of some more examples to my earlier post.

Could you tell us the difference between the cRio we will get in the kit and the one you currently sell?

Can you discribe the Oporator Interface that we get in the kit? (if you can release this information, of course, although they did have OIs set up at the displays at Atlanta, Georgia)

Discribe how we can attach the cRio to our robot. Are there screw holes?

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)

I realize now that you were asking what type of resources we wanted, not what was in them. I hope this helps out anyway, though.

I agree with Myrlem. It would be nice to be able to know the basic, obviouse things, and the concept of the cRio. Looking for information about LabVIEW and the cRio is just like what teams used before the kickoff. Any new members would look online and at past manuals and get to know enough about the programming and such to have the general idea once the real work started.

[Spider-Man]

This past year, I decided to write a dashboard VI for our robot. This experience was my first when it came to LabView.

I would like to think that I used preferred methods in my program, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this is and will be a common problem area

I think one of the best resources would tutorials on programming basic tasks in LabView using Best Known Methods (BKMs) as well as tutorials on how best to avoid Worst Known Methods (WKMs). If we were to have a wiki area dedicated to existing KMs and adding new ones from the userbase and NI, I'm sure that teams would be that much more capable in the coming years.

Thanks,

--Adam

[Sarah_R]

Hey All,

Thank you again for your feedback. We will be taking these into consideration and creating the appropriate tutorials. It will take a little bit of time, but we are working on it. We will be releasing a few LabVIEW documents shortly, so be sure to looking for those.

Keep any additional feedback coming in.

Sarah S

[Rob_Steele]

Since there is a lot of training resources on the NI web site already - I would like to a list of which ones you would recommend we go though. Developing new ones is great - but leveraging what you have makes sense to me.

Rob Steele

[Sarah_R]

Hey LabVIEWEnthusiast,

I wanted to address the following question that you had:

"Could you tell us the difference between the cRio we will get in the kit and the one you currently sell?"

The NI CompactRIO that you will get in your kit is very similar to the one that we currently sell. However, it will have a few modification specifically for FIRST. The cRIO that you will recieve will have a static FPGA which is significantly different then the currently sold cRIOs. The modules that you will recieve are the exact same as the ones that are currently sold.

You can find more information by referencing the following .

"Can you discribe the Oporator Interface that we get in the kit?"

The specific operator interface would be determined by FIRST, so I would recommend that you contact them to find out the specifics.

"Discribe how we can attach the cRio to our robot. Are there screw holes?"

Yes, there are mounting holes already built into the cRIO chassis for attaching it to your robot.

"Can you discribe the default code that we will get from FIRST for LabVIEW and C?"

You will receive default code that will enable you to do different actions. The specific tasks that you will be able to do are being finalized and will be released with the software found in the Kit of Parts.

I hope that is able to answer the question, please let me know if you had any other questions or would like for me to clarify anything else.

Thanks

Sarah S.

Applications Engineering

National Instruments