2818 G-FORCE Progress Updates #246
Replies: 22 comments 49 replies
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Yes, you can run 2 expansion hubs (You can actually run 4). Each just needs to be connected to a USB port on systemcore directly. RS485 is not supported. |
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I'm having trouble with flashing the new OS... I beleive I've done it correctly, but I'm not getting anything on the display now, and I can't connect to the internal web page. I'm using the Limelight Hardware Manager 2.0.7 for Windows The flash process seemed to end correctly, although the final lines of the flash log don't match the final lines form the "Flashing Instructions" Video.... When the flash is complete, I see a bunch of new drives in Windows Explorer. When I plug the USB back in, I don't hear the "connect" tone, and no new device appears. If I do a ncpa.cpl command on windows I don't see the SC as a device on the network. Since I haven't been able to configure the device's network settings, I don't know if I should be able to see a SSID, but none are visible if I go looking. I even tried repeating the full flash process again, but with no sucess. Can you see what I may have done wrong, or have missed out. I've attached the flash log file. |
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New OS loaded 5/6/2026 We have now sucesfully loaded the new beta-10-138 Operating system, and configured the team name, SSID and password. |
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Driver Station 5/8/2026 Installed and fired up the Driver Station on Windows 11. First time I tried to install it, windows complained that it couldn't verify the publisher, so I just accepted the "unsafe" status and it loaded right up. (Oddly, it doesn't complain any mor if I try to re-install it). After setting the Team number to match the SC, and plugging int the USB, it connected and started displaying battery voltage etc. Question. Will there be a naming convention for the WiFi SSID? I really like the updated DS layout (I'm familar with the FRC driver station). The only thing I thought was missing was the ability to clear the log screen. We use this a lot when we are getting periodic overruns in FTC. A clear screen makes new messages more obvious. |
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Robot Code 5/11/2026 Spent some time today re-discovering that the ExHub example doesn't deploy and run. So I used @cadandcookies's sample code and got the robot depoyed and running as a basic Timed Robot. Comment: One thing I discovered during this process was that there was NO indication (that I could find) about what was going wrong with the robot with the ExH code. The Driver station flashed between "No Robot Code" and "Waiting for Robot Code" but there were no other errors, or prompts or stack dumps that I could see. The VSC "RioLog" was silent on the matter, likewise the Output, Terminal and Debug Console tabs. In the future where will coders be able to view runtime errors? Question: I added a simple SmartDashboard string to my teleopePeriodic, but it does not appear as an avaiable widget on the Elastic Dashboard. SmartDashboard.putNumber("Drive",-controls.getGamepad(0).getLeftY() ); |
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It seems like it's more complicated now... Scenario 1) Scenario 2) It's like the calls to periodic() are enabled ONCE when Tele mode is initiated, but they don't run after that. Since I don't know how to get diagnostic data onto the dashboard, I really don't know what state my code is in. |
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I just noticed that I can change Elastic's "Target Server" from SystemCore to "Robot Code". Now I can see my Dashboard values... :) That was probably my fault when I first started trying to use Elastic. "SystemCore" probably seemed like the correct option. |
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OK, so we have to watch out for multiple writes to the same port in one cycle... .Good to know. How does this impact multiple writes (or commands) to say... A smart CAN bus motor. eg: What if If we have to set several parameters on a single motor.. eg: setting the mode, configuring the max power and setting a target position. If these are individual commands can we issue them in quick sucession or do they need to be paced ? Will these overwrite each other or will they be buffered up? My mind is filling with what-if's. |
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Motor PID testing 5/18/2026 I'm working on developing some more understanding regarding motor controls, and I'm stuggling know the best way to analyse data. Without a Telemetry feed, I can't just display the data I'm collecting. So I'm not sure what the best form of logging to use, to be able to easilly create and display test data. Can I log to a file? and how would I then get that file? In other words, how are the developers doing testing? Phil. |
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Hardware Arrives !! 5/21/2028 Exciting times. FedEx just delivered the rest of the Alpha Test hardware: Inventory list: 8 x A301 motor packs (each with two gearboxes and mic mounting hardware); I though I was missing the main power cable, but then I checked the bag of cables I originally received with the System core. |
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General testing 5/22/2028 I noticed something on the current driver station that is differernt from the FRC DS, and somewhat annoying :) While the system is enabled, if you hit the spacebar (in any window) the robot goes into Emergency Stop mode ... normal. However, when it's E-Stopped, the Restart Robot Code and Reboot Robot buttons are grayed out. I don't think this is the case in FRC. Just providing some developer feedback :) |
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A301 first run. 5/22/2026 Spent the evening installing and updating libs and firmware to get the A301's running. First key instruction:
I installed the REV Hardware Client 2 (RHC2) onto the System core and then was able to update the firmware on two A301 motors. After that I used the RHC2 to play with the motors, running them in the three modes (velocity, position and duty cycle). Then installed the new REVLIB library. Next I built a simple test program to run the two motors as if they were on a robot. The only annomily was that the standard motor.setInverted() call that we would use to reverse the motors on one side of the robot was depricated. I tried calling it anyway, but both motors ran in the same direction. Not sure what the intent was here. Anyway, I'm totally psyched to see the motors running.
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I've just noticed something new with the way my System core is booting. When I power on, the screen is blank for about 20 Sec, and then it goes through the normal spash creen sequence and gets to the normal status screen. But while it's starting up, the RED status LED on the SC is also flashing. Looking at the video, it looks like the CAN bus does not start up the first time around. The voltage from the Milwalkee battery say 16V. (it was charged yesterday). It did it the first two times I powered it up today, but now it's not doing it. dual.boot.mp4 |
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First Post: 5/4/2026
G-FORCE picked up it's System Core and Motion Core at Worlds on Sat, and we are eagerly awaiting our A301 motors and Battery supplies. Our fist task will be to retrofit the SystemCore into our 2025 "Into The Deep" robot. This bot has a good mix of Motors, Servos and sensors.
We'll probably do two different setups. One that uses the 4 available motors for the drive, and then another where we run the various manipulator motors instead.
Question: Can we run two expansion hubs to drive all 8 motors ????
In the interim, we are locating and reviewing the available documentation so we're ready to go as soon as we have hardware.
Mr. Phil.
Lead mentor and FTC Tech Team Member.
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