Can a computer be connected to the controller during matches?

VEX V5 General Discussion
1

For viewing sensor values and keeping the controller charged, can a computer be connected to the V5 Controller during a match?

2

That would not be legal for VRC.

3

No.

Yes.

https://www.robotevents.com/VRC/2018-2019/QA/155

<G7> Only Drivers, and only in the Alliance Station. During a Match, all Drive Team Members must remain in their Alliance Station. Drive Team Members are not allowed to use any sort of communication devices during their Match. Devices with communication features turned off (e.g. a phone in airplane mode) are allowed.

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4

I would specify that all coding software be off while charging via laptop…

5

Q&A says “with communication features disabled”. I guess that means disabling that USB hub for that port.

6

I took that to mean wireless communication features, such as wifi and bluetooth. It might be worth posting a follow up Q&A on this.

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7

does the controller charge via USB? I don’t have one yet so idk.
if so, it may be a good idea to get a portable USB charger to use in emergency situation. also, you could just print your sensor values to the controller screen.

8

We are just bringing battery packs with us for charging the controller. We typically dont even come close to using our controllers full battery in a day of competition either but we are bringing battery packs as a precaution.

9

They are just one of the microUSB cables to charge it. (It’s great to have a standard charger for something in Vex.)

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10

Yeah, but Micro-B is a dying standard. I wish they’d gone for USB-C.

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11

Besides that, its durability and reliability is horrible, which is bad for a competition product.

12

Yeah the V5 durability is horrible. I made a thread a bit back asking about magnetic data sync cables, basically so that you can not wear out the v5 ports. Here is a link to that thread.

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13

Same here. For a product that will be around and heavily used for 5, 10 years, they really needed to go with the most current connection interface, USB-C. TBH I wouldn’t buy a phone or tablet with a micro-b on it anymore. It’s becoming too slow and outdated.

1 Like