Help! Need info on drive station.

[Retread]

Hi,

I was not involved with FIRST last year. The NI cRIO is all new to me. I understand that we are using the Classmate for the drive station. We are also reusing many parts from last year. Do we need some sort of radio transmitter connected to the classmate for the wireless control (not tethered with cat 5 cable)? Should I use the classmate to program the cRIO or should I use a different PC to do that.

[NI-Bob]

Hello,

In order to communicate wirelessly to the robot you should use the wireless Linksys router that came in the kit (this was not sent in veteran team kits as it was expected that you would use the router from last year).  There are instructions in the Control Systems Manual (should be in Chapter 2) that will help you with instructions on how to set up the Wireless Router.

You can use the Classmate to program the cRIO if you wish.  My personal recommendation would be to use another computer to program the robot just because I would struggle trying to program with such a small keyboard and small monitor.  The only thing that you absolutely have to use the Classmate for is to act as the Driver Station during competition.

You should have received the software disks in the kit of parts for this year.

Please let me know if you have any further questions on this issue and I will be very happy to assist you!  Have a great day!

Thanks!

Bob H

NI FIRST Support

[Retread]

Thanks for the quick reply. From reading the manual, I will need a wireless router connected to the classmate, either Linksys WRT610N or WRT160N. Our team has lost the support from our sponsor and in transition we had to restructure the team from scratch. We are a veteran team but we're basically a rookie team. We are able to get some stuff from last year but not everything. I need to buy either a WRT610N or WRT160N. What do you suggest.

[Stephanie B]

Its a very standard / widely available device - even Where to Get More doesn't have a specific recommendation. I'd just Google it and see whatever sells it cheapest.

Good luck with everything this year!

[sciencewhiz]

If you are in an area with a lot of other wireless networks, you should get the 610N because it operates at 5ghz, away from most wireless networks (which operate at 2.4ghz). Otherwise, you should probably get the 160N, as it is about half the price of the 610N. One thing to realize is that Linksys updates firmware and adds features constantly. It's very likely that if you get a 610N now, the menus and options may be slightly different then what is depicted in the control system manual. If you slow down and look around a little bit, you should be able to configure it without major problems, you just have to be prepared for it to take a little longer to find things. It is less likely to be an issue with the 160N, because the instructions were written much more recently for that one.

I have two 160Ns at home that I use without issues.