FTC 701 "The GONK Squad" Progress Updates

[Tomrish]

FTC 701's Alpha Kit unboxed and ready to go. Powered on and connection to Expansion Hub established. No test chassis yet as we are still waiting on our 18v Batteries and A301's to arrive, but will be doing some testing with devices connected to Expansion Hub in the meantime.

[Tomrish]

Only thing noticed on today's (5/7) setup was that running on the 12v REV battery into the expansion hub with the output of the EH to the Systemcore, the Systemcore module got a little warmer than I would've expected at idle. Not sure if that's intended. Will continue to monitor.

[ThadHouse]

It never throttles down, so no real difference between idle and full speed. It's expected to get warm.

[qwertychouskie]

It should drop to 1500MHz at idle (https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=364590#p2187460), is something misconfigured or intentionally overriden in the SystemCore OS image?

[ThadHouse]

It’s not a stock image. It’s intentionally overwritten.

[SheaMcCann]

Trying to write basic code using the WPI Lib Systemcore Blocks Interface, but I encountered some problems:

1. The dropdowns for creating blocks will not open when you click on them. Sometimes reloading fixes the issue, sometimes it doesn't. I turned off my adblocker and still had this issue.
2. The "When Gamepad ___, do: ____" block will not make any selections other than selecting gamepad 1 or 0.

alphablocksfail.mp4

alphablocksfailnotclicking.mp4

[Kevin-OConnor]

@alan412 may have some more questions, but I'll start with what OS, browser, and version of the browser is this? What version of blocks?

[SheaMcCann]

I'm using Windows 11 and Google Chrome in its most updated version. For blocks I was using Blocks 0.8.1 from https://github.wpilib.org/systemcore-blocks-interface/. I'm now trying to use the robot.local blocks interface.

[SheaMcCann]

Unable to deploy code despite being connected to robot's wifi.

[Kevin-OConnor]

Is this using Blocks by connecting to the robot webserver and opening Blocks hosted on the controller or are you using Blocks running locally on your machine?

[SheaMcCann]

I was using blocks running locally on my machine (https://github.wpilib.org/systemcore-blocks-interface/) but now I'm using the robot.local webserver and having more success. Thanks!

[alan412]

Thanks for finding this!!

On the problem with blocks not opening, that is due to a bug with the Gamepad and the Zelos renderer (used for both Zelos and FIRST style). There is a fix here ( wpilibsuite/systemcore-blocks-interface#583 ) but in the meantime, you can just switch the blocks style to Thrasos.

On the Deploy, are you loading it by clicking on the blocks on the homescreen of robot.local?

[SheaMcCann]

Alright thanks, I'll use Thrasos.

As for the Deploy, I was using the site (https://github.wpilib.org/systemcore-blocks-interface/) but now I've tried robot.local and I'm having more success. Thank you!

[alan412]

@SheaMcCann - Blocks 0.8.1 was just released that fixes the problem with the Gamepad on the Zelos renderer. You can download it from here: https://github.com/wpilibsuite/systemcore-blocks-interface/releases/ and then install the ipk on your systemcore. I tested it and verified that the deploy button is live on mine.

[SheaMcCann]

Alright, thank you! I'll try that.