trying to download a compiled program to vex cortex
when the cortex is turned on, the following lights are flashing:
the robot light is flashing green slowly
the game light is flashing green rapidly
the vexnet light is completely dark (should this light be green??)
I have an orange usb cable connected from my pc to the cortex.
when I try to download, I keep getting a message that “there is no communication link to the vex device”
I don’t understand because I have an orange usb cable connected to the vex from my pc.
I am new to this robot c stuff - and it is very frustrating. I thought it would be much easier to use…
Please take a look through our step-by-step ‘Getting Started with the VEX Cortex - VEXNet’ guide in the ROBOTC support documents and follow each step in order. This will help us eliminate any steps that may have been accidentally skipped; if the process fails at any point, please let us know which step the process failed on and what error messages/etc appear during that time.
ok - I will try this out with my school’s tech guy tomorrow.
but honestly, I must say that my school purchased several of these vex kits for thousands of dollars. I am not a computer person, just a teacher who wanted to try something new…
now, when I try to use these robots, I need to troubleshoot, update firmware, and get referred by your department to a complicated document.
it really is quite pathetic and not nearly as user-friendly as I was told. I am beginning to believe that the vex corporation take great pride in making things as complicated and un-user friendly as possible.
I am sorry you are running into frustration with ROBOTC and the VEX Cortex system. We work very closely with VEX to ensure that both products (ROBOTC and the VEX Cortex platform) are as stable and reliable as possible; unfortunately, this means that there can and will be updates to both the Master and ROBOTC firmware from time to time.
That being said, we do try to make our help documentation (especially the setup guides) as easy to use as possible for both veterans and those that are new to robotics programming. Is there any specific feedback or issues you are encountering with the ROBOTC help documentation? We are always happy to hear ideas for better ease-of-use and improvements.
If you are completely new to the world of robotics and are looking for a place to start, I suggest also taking a look at our VEX Cortex Video Trainer using ROBOTC (link below). It walks through the process of setting up and programming several ‘standard models’ using ROBOTC and also covers setting up and programming custom robot configurations in ROBOTC.
Back to the original topic; after following the steps in the guide, was the problem resolved? If not, which step did the process fail on, what error messages did you receive, etc? The more detailed information you are able to provide, the better we will be able to assist you with this issue.
P.S. Please note that the support documentation that I have linked prior in this thread was created and maintained by ROBOTC, not VEX Robotics. If there are any errors or improvements that you see that need rectified or made, please let me know and I will be more than happy to address them as quickly as possible.