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, microcontroller
• 1994
  • MAW 23-volt robot power
• 1995
  • FIRST designed control system: Transmitter, Receiver/Relay, Motorola RNet radio modems
• 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
• 2003
  • Minor upgrades
  • Edu/Robovation pBasic version given to all teams
  • Plastic gearboxes and very simple bot 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
  • Tetrix system released for FTC
  • Webcam included in KOP
  • New revision of kitbot
• 2010
  • Driver Station switch to Classmate laptop
  • Java programming added

Kit-of-Parts

• 1992
• 1993
• 1997
• 1998
• 1999
• 2000
• 2001
• 2002
• 2003
• 2004
• 2005
• 2006
• 2007
• 2008
• 2009 Main KOP, Controls Kit Only