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FIRST® Robotics Competition (FRC®)
First Robotics Competition (FRC) Technology History
FRC Control System History
FRC Technology Milestones
- 1992
- Wired umbilical 4-button controls & power
- 1993
- Wireless RC-style control
- Termiflex keypad controller, 8-position joystick, transmitter/receiver pair, Motorola microcontroller
- 1994
- MAW 23-volt robot power
- 1995
- FIRST designed control system: Transmitter, Receiver/Relay, Motorola RNet radio modems
- Pneumatics introduced
- 1997
- FIRST designed Basic Stamp 2 & pBasic
- User programmable, first use of sensors. $1500 security deposit for off-season use of Control System
- Potentiometer included in KOP
- 12v robot power
- 1998
- Optical sensors included in KOP
- Mindstorms for FLL pilot
- 1999
- Yaw rate sensor (gyro) included in KOP
- IFI Victor 883 speed controllers included in KOP
- 2000
- IFI Control System Basic Stamp upgrade (BS2sx)
- Teams keep system after the season
- IFI Spike included in KOP
- 2001
- Banner Engineering, Inc., diffuse optical sensors included in KOP
- 2002
- CIM (Atwood) motors included in KOP
- 2003
- Minor upgrades
- Edu/Robovation pBasic version given to all teams
- Plastic gearboxes and very simple box aluminum frame included in KOP
- Victor 884 speed controllers included in KOP
- 2004
- IFI Control System upgraded to use PIC 8520 (MPLAB)
- C programming
- Edu/Robovation PIC version given to all teams, then just rookies the following year
- Current sensor included in KOP
- Pressure transducer included in KOP
- IR Beacon
- 2005
- CMUCam2 included in KOP
- IFI Kitbot included in KOP
- all metal transmissions included in KOP
- Single-axis accelerometer included in KOP
- Hall-effect gear tooth sensors in KOP
- 2006
- IFI Control System upgraded to use PIC 8722 (more memory)
- Intellitek EasyC programming added
- LabVIEW for off-line camera vision support
- Vex system released for FTC
- Cold cathode lights included in KOP
- Yaw rate sensor, dual-axis accelerometer, gear-tooth sensors on a common strip
- Allen Bradley IR beam transmitter/receiver pair
- 2007
- Radio upgrade
- 2008
- IR Receiver included in KOP (shipped separately in December)
- Encoders included in KOP
- Andy Mark Toughbox transmissions & encoders
- 2009
- National Instruments (NI) cRIO Control System
- C++/LabVIEW programming
- Wireless network
- Linux Driver Station - specialized FRC hardware
- Tetrix system released for FTC
- Webcam included in KOP
- New revision of kitbot
- 2010
- Driver Station switch to Classmate laptop
- WiFi bridge in transition as 2009 model is no longer available. Chosen replacement exhibits field connection problems.
- Java programming added
- 2011
- Robot WiFi bridge/AP DLink introduced for all
- Third-party Python & Lua programming released - not quite full implementations
- 2012
- cRIO II - 4 slot instead of 8 slots - replaces original for rookies. Original supported for veterans.
- AndyMark FIRST Choice distribution is now part of KOP
- AndyMark PG gearhead motors
- 2013
- VexRobotics Mini-CIM & BAG motors added
- KOP drivetrain switches to belts/pulleys
- Talon speed controller introduced
- 2014
- 3D printers offered as part of KOP
- 2015
- roboRIO control system replaces previous cRIO-based system