1. Dennis C. Erickson ~ Senior Mentor for
Teams 1510 and 2898
1

2. The
Real-­‐Time
screen
on
the
Driver
Station
is
called
the
“Dashboard”
It
can
be
modified
to
include
additional
functions
and
displays
2

3. • Use
to
interface
local
sensors
and
the
joystick
to
the
communications
link
to
the
robot
process
• Also
has
capability
to
handle
digital
and
analog
commands
• Also
provides
for
a
real-­‐time
display
that
can
contain
status,
sensor
and
video
information
from
the
robot
3

4. A
view
of
the
Driver
Station
first
introduced
in
2010
Instead
of
using
the
I/O
board
it
is
suggested
that
the
buttons
on
the
joysticks
be
used
as
commands
to
the
robot
4

5. Allows
for
the
wireless
communications
between
the
driver
and
the
robot
Also
used
as
a
control
system
from
the
competition
director
computers
(watchdog,
start,
Autonomous,
TeleOp,
etc)
5

6.
• Windows
XP
• 1.6
GHz
Atom
processor,
1
GB
RAM
• 16
GB
solid
state
hard
drive
• 8.9”
screen,
1024x600
resolution
• No
VGA
port
6

7.
• Runs
with
an
executable
built
with
LabVIEW
• Does
what
the
Kwikbyte
DS
did
in
pre-­‐2010
years
7

8. Operation
Tab:
Diagnostics
Tab:
8

9. Auto
IP
address
setup,
Run
a
simulated
match,
Setup
Tab:
will
remap
joysticks
Can
simulate
analog
and
digital
I/O,
shows
states
IO
Tab:
of
I/O
hardware
9

10. The
Stop
Button
• Connects
via
USB
• Performs
E-­‐Stop
not
disable
–Robot
must
be
rebooted
after
E-­‐stop
–Same
as
the
E-­‐Stop
on
the
field
–Space
Bar
acts
as
disable
• Must
be
connected
for
robot
to
be
enabled
–This
may
be
bypassed
10

11. The
dashboard
data
may
be
re-­‐directed
to
Integrated
Dashboard
another
computer
The
top
half
of
this
display
can
easily
be
customized
11

12. • Use
the
User
Message
Box
• Use
the
Dashboard.ctr
(The
Low
Dashboard
Data
VI)
• Use
the
High
Dashboard
Data
VI
12

13. • There
is
a
User
Message
Box
where
one
line
messages
can
be
sent
from
the
robot
to
the
DS
Any Sensor 2.34
Any Sensor 1.23
Use
the
“User
Message.vi
Here
2
messages
in
lines
1
and
2
are
written
in
the
“User
Messages”
box.
Error
messages
can
be
included
13

14. • Recommendations
that
might
be
included
in
your
message
box:
ü The
version
#
of
the
Robot
software
perhaps
with
the
most
recent
modification
ü The
battery
voltage
and
estimated
drive
time
left
14

15. Use
the
Dashboard
Datatype.ctl
to
send
simple
data
to
the
Dashboard
from
the
Robot
using
the
“Build
DashBoard
Data.vi”,
specifically
the
“Set
Low
Priority
Dashboard
Data.vi”
Open
the
“Dashboard
datatype.ctl
from
the
Project
Explorer
15

16. Adding
new
controls
to
the
.ctl
Add
a
new
control
or
controls
to
the
.ctl
and
save
it.
16

17. The
rest
of
the
process
is
fairly
complex
and
would
take
up
more
time
than
we
have,
so
visit
the
website
for
a
complete
step
by
step
tutorial:
http://decibel.ni.com/content/docs/DOC-­‐8862
17

18. • A
more
flexible
and
simpler
method
is
to
use
the
“Set
High
Priority
Dashboard
Data.vi”
•
18

19. Step
1
Example
Block
Diagram
of
a
Robot
application.
In
2010
there
were
two
SubVIs
available
to
transfer
User
data
to
the
DS.
We
Use
the
High
Priority
SubVI
for
this
example.
Open
the
SubVI
for
Step
2
19

20. Step
2
Block
Diagram
of
the
Build
Dashboard
Data
HI
SubVI
All
User
data
elements
that
are
to
be
transferred
to
the
DS
are
“Bundled”
and
the
result
“Flattened
to
a
String”
Then
that
String
is
sent
to
a
Special
SubVI
called
the
“Set
High
Priority
Dashboard
Data”
that
is
basically
a
memory
function
Note
that
the
inputs
can
be
local
variables,
global
variables
or
simply
hardwired
to
the
SubVI
20

21. Step
3
Typical
Block
Diagram
of
a
Robot
application.
Create
a
Constant
of
the
output
of
the
Bundle.
This
will
provide
a
“DataType”
or
“Image”
to
be
used
later
in
the
Unflatten
from
String
process
in
the
DS
application
The
DataType
for
this
example
looks
like
this.
Note
that
this
constant
would
be
cut
from
this
block
diagram
and
pasted
into
the
DS
application.
21

22. An
example
Front
Panel
for
a
Custom
Dashboard
–
The
Sensor
Panel
Tab
Step
4
In
this
particular
example
4
ultrasonic
sensors
are
displayed
(note
that
the
bar
indicators
are
Log
scaled
from
4
inches
to
120
inches),
5
kicker
strength
commands,
a
gyroscope
reading,
a
ball
locator
(from
2
photoelectric
sensors)
and
a
real-­‐time
image
of
the
target
are
displayed.
22

23. An
example
Front
Panel
for
a
Custom
Dashboard
–
The
Misc
Data
Tab
This
tab
displays
data
from
modules
in
2
slots,
the
IP
address
of
the
robot,
and
strip
charts
showing
the
Joystick
X,
Gyro,
and
Target
information
23

24. Another
example
Front
Panel
for
a
Custom
Dashboard
–
The
Drive
Panel
Tab
24

25. Another
example
Front
Panel
for
a
Custom
Dashboard
–
The
Values
Panel
Tab
25

26. Step
5
Example
Block
Diagram
showing
the
extraction
of
the
User
data
from
the
Robot.
This
is
a
portion
of
the
code
used
to
display
on
the
dashboard
the
User
data
from
the
robot
Note
that
the
application
receives
a
UDP
transmission,
and
unflattens
the
string
using
the
datatype
(image)
that
was
created
in
the
robot
application
and
unbundled
to
provide
the
5
front
panel
indicators
The
video
display
is
not
shown
here
for
clarity
26

27. Step
6
On
the
DS,
Login
to
the
Developer
Account
or
bring
the
project
over
from
the
development
laptop
to
create
an
exe
file.
Note
that
these
steps
are
for
a
new
exe
only.
Note
that
in
this
example
the
VI
we
are
building
the
exe
file
for
is
“Dashboard
Main.vi”
• On
the
Project
Explorer
Screen,
right
click
on
Build
Specifications
-­‐>
New
-­‐>
Application
(EXE)
this
will
bring
up
the
Properties
screen
27

28. Note
that
if
one
or
more
custom
Dashboards
already
exist,
simply
“Build
All”
and
that
will
complete
the
process
except
perhaps
for
being
sure
that
the
ini
file
is
corrected
(see
a
later
slide)
28

29. In
the
Properties
Screen,
Information
list
box
“Target
Filename"
-­‐
give
it
something
meaningful,
e.g.,
“Dashboard
Team
1510
2010.exe”
Also
it
is
advisable
to
change
the
“Build
specification
name”
to
be
the
same
name
Note
that
for
an
existing
file,
right-­‐clicking
on
the
Properties
selection
brings
up
the
same
screen
29

30. In
the
Category
list
box
click
on
"Source
Files“
and
Click
on
"Dashboard
Main.vi“
and
Click
on
the
right
pointing
arrow
that
will
highlight.
You
should
see
Dashboard
Main.vi
appear
on
the
right
hand
side
under
• "Startup
VIs"
Click
on
"Build"
at
the
bottom
to
create
the
exe.
After
it
is
built,
press
Done
30

31. When
it's
done
building
go
to
the
Destinations
list
box.
With
this
example
it
will
look
like
this:
C://Documents
and
Settings
My
DocumentsLabVIEW
Databuilds2010
Game
Dashboard
Project
Dashboard
Team
1510
2010
31

32. Clicking
on
this
button
shows
that
three
files
have
been
created:
Dashboard
Team
1510
2010.aliases,
.exe,
.ini.
Then
navigate
to
C:Documents
and
Settings/Developer//My
Documents/
LabVIEW
Data/builds/2010
Game
Dashboard
Project//Dashboard
Team
1510
2010
and
Copy
all
3
files
Navigate
to
C:Program
Files
FRC
Dashboard
and
Paste
all
three
files
to
that
directory
32

33. Finally,
go
to:
C:Documents
and
SettingsAll
Users
Shared
Documents
Make
a
backup
copy
of
the
file:
FRC
DS
Data
Storage.ini
Open
and
edit
the
file:
FRC
DS
Data
Storage.ini
in
Notepad
You'll
see
a
line:
DashboardCmdLine=""C:Program
FilesFRC
DashboardDashboard.exe"“
then
Change
the
name
of
the
Dashboard.exe
to
:
Dashboard
Team
1510
2010.exe
then
Save
and
exit
the
file.
Note
do
this
only
if
the
name
has
changed
33
Login
to
the
Driver
account
(Windows
Logo+L)
to
start
up
the
new
dashboard
and
see
if
it
works.

34. Dennis C. Erickson - dcerickson1@comcast.net