How can we help you be successful this FTC season?

[NI_FIRST_Team]

Hey FTC Teams!

Welcome to the FTC Community Page for the FIRST Tech Challenge 2010!

Do you need more resources? Want anything added to this community page? Do you have any questions, comments, or concerns?

Please let us know what we can do to help make your team successful this FTC season and become the #1 HOT SHOT in 2010!

GOOD LUCK!

[robotrebels]

Question:  I have registered the LabView software but each time I open it, I get a message that only so many days are left on the evaluation period.  Is there something more I should do?  I don't want to lose access.

Carol of RobotRebels

[NI-Bob]

Hello Carol,

Thank you for contacting National Instruments!

There was a previous post on the discussion forums regarding activation that has some detailed instructions.  Please take a look at the detailed instructions in this post.  Let me know if you have any further questions on this issue and I will be happy to assist you.

I hope this helps!  Have a great day!

Thanks,

Bob H

NI FIRST Support

[Stephanie B]

Hi Carol -

Thanks for the question! If you have activated LabVIEW you are probably seeing that you are still evaluating Applicaiton Builder, which you won't need nor can you activate. You can just click the checkbox in the bottom left to not see the window again and it will be fine and continue to work.

I hope this helps - we're going to write a doc about more details on this issue.

Thanks!

[rsthj]

Greetings,

One thing that would be extremely helpful would be to get the LabVIEW section at ftctraining.com updated or deleted.  Simply replacing it with a link to NI's site would do the trick.  Much of the information there pertains to the obsolete FMS and templates and it is sending teams in the wrong direction.  None the less, much of FIRST's documentation directs teams to ftctraining.com for LabVIEW info.

Likewise, some of the FTC info on NI's site should be removed or marked as obsolete.  This for example:

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/7956

Cheers.

[jwheels]

I could use some guidance on the following:

1. What is the best source for learning lab view-I read about this site   http://FTCMastery.com/tetrix-beginner-course/intro/http://FTCMastery.com/tetrix-beginner-course/intro/     but one link suggests

   FTCMastery.com includes free curriculum, exercises, and sample code which you can use for FTC prep after school, or in the classroom. Is there a way to get the  information without paying the $49?  I can pay - I just would like some advice?

2. What about http://www.lvmastery.com/tipjar2008-12-04  Tip Jar #5/ #6  -

3. What about FTC 2009-2010 Training Material http://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-7152;jsessionid=82a40f1830d632849d59546a459db23ce703bf60009c....  They have a nice 38 minute video.

I have a female student who really wants to learn this stuff but we are having a difficult time finding the right source to help her ( and me learn)

[jwheels]

I'm new to FTC

1. I was wondering if someone could explain what a basic robot programming would include.
   1. like how many different programs are usually made-
   2. does anyone write a program from scratch?- do you need to?
2. My kids can run a robot with the logictech controller- using teleops basic but do you need to alter this program- it seems to work fine
3. Which templates are required? or generally used in  competition
   1. automonous mode? uses what template?
   2. you need a drive program
   3. you need a program to activate other motors and servos

Anything else?

[MarkBlack]

FTCMastery.com and the training documents found in the Documents section of this site will be your best resource for getting started with FTC.  The manual that shipped with your software is also worth reading.   LVMastery is also a very good site, which was very helpful to many of the FRC teams who used LabVIEW last season.  The next best place to get help is on these forums.  If you ask a question of how to do something in LabVIEW it will get answered!

jwheels wrote:

1. I was wondering if someone could explain what a basic robot programming would include.
   1. like how many different programs are usually made-
   2. does anyone write a program from scratch?- do you need to?
2. My kids can run a robot with the logictech controller- using teleops basic but do you need to alter this program- it seems to work fine
3. Which templates are required? or generally used in  competition
   1. automonous mode? uses what template?
   2. you need a drive program
   3. you need a program to activate other motors and servos

1. A complete FTC Robot will have two main VIs - one for teleop and one for autonomous.  These VIs are compiled into RXE files and downloaded on to the NXT brick.  Teams use program chooser to designate what teleop program they will use and this program is automatically launched by the Field Control System during the game.  Some teams choose to write several autonomous programs that execute different moves depending on their starting position, alliance, etc, but at the bare minimum you will only need two programs.  You should not have write any of your programs from scratch, and if you are new to LabVIEW and FTC I highly recommend you do not write any programs from scratch.  This is why we have created the templates for you.  These template already take care of the "boiler-plate" programming required to get the robot to interact with the field control system correctly.  The use of the templates also guarantee your robot will drive responsively and as expected.  There is a great deal of detail on these topics in the FTC Getting Started Manual.  There should be a hard copy of this manual that shipped with your LabVIEW software as well as a soft copy that installs with the FTC installer...\National Instruments\LabVIEW 2009\manuals\FTC_Getting_Started.pdf. 
2. You do not need to alter this program at all to get a robot driving.  All that is required is a robot with the same wheel configuration as the robot described in the FTC Getting Started Manual.  If you were to add more features to your robot (such as arm) you would need to add code to the template to control this.  Look at the TeleopFull template to get an idea of where and how this code should be added.  If you need more help simply post back here with your questions.
3. Please see my response to question 1.  Again I will stress the importance of the FTC Getting Started Manual.  Not only are LabVIEW and NXT concepts described here, but information related to the game is detailed.  A great deal of effort when into making the manual as helpful as possible for team.  Let me know if you have seen the manual and have any questions on it. 

Cheers,

Mark

LabVIEW R&D

[jwheels]

Thanks that is just what I needed to read/hear!