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16 Replies Last post: Jun 17, 2008 10:26 AM by Joel Sumner  
LabViewEnthusiast  
LabViewEnthusiast
24 posts since
May 5, 2008
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May 16, 2008 6:47 PM

Programming Robot Steering with LabVIEW

These might be obvious questions in the FIRST world, but I am still learning things as the 2008 season was my first.

 

How do you mix the joystick outputs to drive a two-wheel drive robot in LabVIEW? Example: One wheel on each side on one end of the robot, the other end just has a castor wheel. How do you program this to one joystick? I saw a toutorial at the FIRST World championship where they were quickly and easily programming a robot that was built like the discription above. The programmer quickly set up a bunch of mathmatical oporation nodes and wired them up. I wasn't able to catch what he did.

 

 

 

Also, how do you program mechanum wheels in LabVIEW? Our team is thinking about using them next year and would like to know this. I am thinking that we will control the z-axis rotation with two side-by-side buttons. One button turns the robot clockwise, the other turns it counter-clockwise.

 

 

I have also seen where the user draws a path on a small screen on the front panel, then the robot follows the path that was drawn. How is this done?

 

 

And one more thing, (when is it going to end?!? ) How do you simulate a robot when you drive it or show it's possition when it is driving? I've seen on this site where a team (I think from NI) built this tank and had it map out it's relative possition on a screen on the front panel. That looks very handy, and it looks like it could be used to simulate a robot when you aren't actually controlling a real one.

 

 

Thanks alot

Tags: control, frc, labview, program, programming, robot, software
Hillary Emer NI Employee
Hillary Emer
9 posts since
Apr 29, 2008
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May 20, 2008 8:17 AM in response to: LabViewEnthusiast
Re: Programming Robot Steering with LabVIEW

Hi,

 

For controlling the robot by drawing on the screen check out the following Developer Zone Examples: Drawing on a Canvas Control and Dynamically Registering Mouse Move Events to Draw a Picture. You'll want to use an event structure to acknowledge the interaction with the picture control. You can use the result to determine the action the robot takes.

 

 

 

We're working on getting more information about the tank onto the FIRST community. Then we should have more information available. Additionally, since the LabVIEW API is still being developed I can't give you specifics in LabVIEW just yet.  

 

 

 

Hillary

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Hillary Emer NI Employee
Hillary Emer
9 posts since
Apr 29, 2008
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May 20, 2008 12:55 PM in response to: Hillary Emer
Re: Programming Robot Steering with LabVIEW

Also, check out the FIRST Robotics Resource Center. It has videos and will have tutorials in the future.

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Hillary Emer NI Employee
Hillary Emer
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Apr 29, 2008
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May 22, 2008 3:12 PM in response to: Hillary Emer
Re: Programming Robot Steering with LabVIEW

 

Additionally, the path planning was developed with the pre-alpha software we are developing for the FIRST competition and we will be providing many examples and tutorials on how to perform autonomous robot control for the 2009 competition season that will be available in the fall.

 

 

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Steve.Rhoads  
Steve.Rhoads
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Jun 4, 2008
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Jun 4, 2008 3:14 PM in response to: Hillary Emer
Re: Programming Robot Steering with LabVIEW

We are really looking for the ability to control OPERATOR mode, not autonomous. Is there any guidance that currently exists with a deployed LabVIEW platform, say the Lego NXT?

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Jennifer_R NI Employee
Jennifer_R
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Feb 13, 2008
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Jun 5, 2008 6:55 PM in response to: Steve.Rhoads
Re: Programming Robot Steering with LabVIEW

 

Hi Steve,

 

 

 

Are you looking for information on how to incorporate a joystick or similar controller into LabVIEW code? Or are you referring to another way to interact with the program, such as through a user interface?

 

 

Jennifer

 

 

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Steve.Rhoads  
Steve.Rhoads
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Jun 4, 2008
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Jun 7, 2008 3:15 PM in response to: Jennifer_R
Re: Programming Robot Steering with LabVIEW

 

Yes. I am looking to incorporate the Logitech Dual Axis controller (looks like a PS2 gamepad) that FIRST is packaging into the FTC kit. We must be able to read the joystick positions (there are two joysticks) and drive the motors accordingly during OPERATOR mode.

 

 

I am not interested in autonomous code (in this case).

 

 

This is not for autonomous coding, nor for drawing on a computer screen. I must be able to enable a driver to operate the competition robot like a radio-controlled vehicle during OPERATOR mode.

 

 

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Jennifer_R NI Employee
Jennifer_R
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Feb 13, 2008
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Jun 10, 2008 1:46 AM in response to: Steve.Rhoads
Re: Programming Robot Steering with LabVIEW

 

Hi Steve,

 

 

For Windows and Linux systems, the Input Device Control VIs are useful when working with a joystick.  More information can be found in the document "How Can I Monitor a Joystick, Keyboard, or Mouse in LabVIEW?" 

 

 

You may also be interested in the LabVIEW interface to a Wii Remote.  However, the example uses Bluetooth and a .NET library for the remote, so it will be different from an application developed for the Logitech controller. 

 

 

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Joel Sumner NI Employee
Joel Sumner
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Apr 21, 2008
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Jun 17, 2008 10:26 AM in response to: Steve.Rhoads
Re: Programming Robot Steering with LabVIEW

 

Hi Steve,

 

 

You won't have to write any code to get the joystick to control the robot in operator mode.  There will be a PC-based program that will read the joystick and send the commands down to the robot and another program that runs on the robot to control the motors & servos.  Thus, you won't have to write any code if you just want to run in operator controlled mode.  The code for the robot will be provided for you so you can modify it to do fancier things (like recognize a button press and have it move a servo to a particular position)  - but that will be your option and not a requirement.

 

 

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shevah  
shevah
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Jun 5, 2008 3:37 AM in response to: LabViewEnthusiast
Re: Programming Robot Steering with LabVIEW

 

what  versia of labview will be in frc ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Jennifer_R NI Employee
Jennifer_R
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Feb 13, 2008
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Jun 5, 2008 4:40 PM in response to: shevah
Re: Programming Robot Steering with LabVIEW

 

Hi shevah,

 

 

 

 

The teams will be using LabVIEW 8.5.1. It's very similar to LabVIEW 8.5, which you can try for 30 days as an evaluation version if you are interested.

 

 

Jennifer

 

 

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eric1511  
eric1511
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May 22, 2008
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Jun 7, 2008 12:08 PM in response to: Jennifer_R
Re: Programming Robot Steering with LabVIEW

 

Jennifer,

 

 

    I'm assuming since you have the little "NI" symbol under your name, this is an official response?  They really ought to give the NI employees a clearer identity on these forums, while it's not bad here yet the other dev communities can be more confusing.  Perhaps something as simple as your posts are highlighted in blue, a different background, a special avatar, etc.  Knowing that next year will be 8.5.minor changes will help us tailor the Labview Course we are teaching locally.

 

 

    Teams who were involved in this most recent year's FRC game should have all received Labview 8.5 and the necessary licenses to use them.   The year before, we received 8.2, and the year previous you had to sign up to receive Labview.  I'm not sure how FIRST would work the situation if teams had lost their 8.5 from this past year, but it's a more appealing option than having no software after 30 days 

 

 

 

 

--Eric

 

 

 

 

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Jennifer_R NI Employee
Jennifer_R
16 posts since
Feb 13, 2008
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Jun 9, 2008 6:41 PM in response to: eric1511
Re: Programming Robot Steering with LabVIEW

 

Hi Eric,

 

 

You are correct - the NI eagle indicates a response from National Instruments.  I have passed your suggestions on to the Community developers, and we are discussing ways to make the difference more noticeable.  Thanks for the feedback. 

 

 

For anyone who is more familiar with an older version of LabVIEW, some of the features new to LabVIEW 8.5 are highlighted here. 

 

 

The LabVIEW 8.5 online evaluation environment can be used indefinitely, for up to three hours at a time.  If you would like to experiment with LabVIEW beyond the 30-day trial period before you receive the 8.5.1 software, that could be a good option. 

 

 

Jennifer

 

 

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mike_sw_967  
mike_sw_967
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Jun 9, 2008
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Jun 9, 2008 6:57 PM in response to: eric1511
Re: Programming Robot Steering with LabVIEW

Eric

 

Would you clarify something in your post? You wrote that "Teams who were involved in this most recent year's FRC game should have all received Labview 8.5 and the necessary licenses to use them."

 

I didn't see an inventory of the kit of parts we received for the competition this spring -- should there have been a LabView installation CD?

 

Thanks!

 

Mike Miller, SW mentor

Marion, IA Team 967 Linn-Mar HS

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msaunders  
msaunders
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Apr 22, 2008
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Jun 9, 2008 7:43 PM in response to: mike_sw_967
Re: Programming Robot Steering with LabVIEW

 

We received a shrink wrapped set of LabVIEW, with our 2008 FRC kit of parts.

 

 

It is actually a single seat license,  LabVIEWHigh School License for FIRST Competition, NI Part Number 780004-03

(Though the license does say it is "permitted to use this software at home")

 

 

It also includes some training tutuorials on two CD's.

 

 

Mike Saunders, Mentor

TEAM 862 Lightning Robotics

 

 

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LabViewEnthusiast  
LabViewEnthusiast
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May 5, 2008
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Jun 9, 2008 7:45 PM in response to: mike_sw_967
Re: Programming Robot Steering with LabVIEW

 

Yes, there was a bunch of LabVIEW things packaged in a plastic bag in the 2008 season's kit of parts. All the programmers on our team are learning LabVIEW from that. I belive that the teams also recieved the current LabVIEW version in kit of parts from the last three years, too.

 

 

I would like to ask: what is the difference between LabVIEW 8.5 and 8.5.1?

 

 

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Sarah_S NI Employee
Sarah_S
5 posts since
Mar 6, 2008
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Jun 9, 2008 8:08 PM in response to: LabViewEnthusiast
Re: Programming Robot Steering with LabVIEW

 

Hey LabViewEnthusiast,

 

 

The following KnowledgeBase 4HFAIKKC: LabVIEW 8.5.1 Readmes contains the readme file for LabVIEW 8.5.1. This has all the information you are looking for. The main changes between 8.5 and 8.5.1 is many bug fixed and documentation corrections. For more detail, please reference the KnowledgeBase.

 

 

Please feel free to create new threads with new questions. That way we can keep new questions separate.   

 

 

Thanks

 

 

Sarah S

Applications Engineering, National Instruments

 

 

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