The RobotC competition template has been confusing for some students, I though I would try and demystify this and give an overview of how it works. Before diving into the code, it needs to be understood that any RobotC program can be used in competition mode whether using the competition template o…

Are you sure that vexRT is blank while disabled? I see no real reason for them to clear vexRT when you are disabled but not in autonomous (e.g. you want to debug code while it is not outputting). The old processors (FRC and VEX PIC) did not clear the driver inputs while disabled, only during auton…

[image] apalrd: Are you sure that vexRT is blank while disabled? Yes, there is no joystick data available when disabled either before or after a match. If you are in driver mode with buttons pressed or using the analog controls, as soon as the robot is disabled all values from vexRT will go …

[image] jpearman: Yes, there is no joystick data available when disabled either before or after a match. If you are in driver mode with buttons pressed or using the analog controls, as soon as the robot is disabled all values from vexRT will go to 0. I agree that it would be useful to be able …

So I just did a quick test to see where the joystick data is disabled, and it turns out that the joystick itself is doing the blocking and not the cortex. Funny thing is (and perhaps I should not point this out) they forgot to block the accelerometer data in autonomous mode, you can read vexRT[Acce…

[image] jpearman: I agree that it would be useful to be able to select different functions on the robot while disabled, for example different autonomous modes, using the joystick. While this would definitely be useful, it’s only a short step away from having user control in autonomous. We’ll …

[image] jpearman: Wonder how soon it will be before we will see some accelerometer based driving in autonomous. Regardless of it being possible, it’s still illegal… (Quoted for those teams who will forget about this rule… :rolleyes:) //Andrew

I just saw Andrew’s question about the competition template (which in my opinion can be modified as it has no effect on field control) which is perfectly timed as I plan to release an alternative for ROBOTC that anyone could choose to use. This version has some of the features I wanted such as batt…

[image] jpearman: I just saw Andrew’s question about the competition template (which in my opinion can be modified as it has no effect on field control) which is perfectly timed as I plan to release an alternative for ROBOTC that anyone could choose to use. This version has some of the features…

[image] RoboDesigners: Built-in detection of a second controller would be neat. (I’ve never used two VEXnet controllers myself, but I can see some usage for it) That one is easy, there is already a variable ( nVexRCReceiveState ) built into ROBOTC (as of V3.04 on a cortex), I posted about t…

[image] jpearman: That one is easy, there is already a variable ( nVexRCReceiveState ) built into ROBOTC (as of V3.04 on a cortex), I posted about that here. I’m not sure why a recent post in the ROBOTC tech forum said it cannot be done, I tested it and it works. I guess it could be checked in…

The RobotC competition template

VEX V5 General Discussion Technical Discussion

jpearman January 8, 2017, 2:18pm 18

Have a read though this thread.

specifically this post.
https://vexforum.com/index.php/conversation/post/104233

You should pay attention to the leds on the driver interface and also the game led on your joystick and cortex.