FIRST Robotics Competition Partners with National Instruments to Provide a Next-Generation Robot Control System with CompactRIO and LabVIEW

[AMasters]

Author(s):
Bill Miller - FIRST
Frank Merrick - FIRST
Kate Pilotte - FIRST

Industry:
Education, Mechatronics

Products:
CompactRIO, LabVIEW

The Challenge:
Providing a flexible, powerful robotics design platform for more than 40,000 high school students competing in the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC).

The Solution:
Implementing the NI CompactRIO embedded controller, powered by the NI LabVIEW graphical programming software, as the controller for the next-generation FRC robot control platform.

"With the CompactRIO controller, we expect students to rapidly design and build advanced robots during the six-week build period. The robots they build with this control platform will need to solve complex challenges and must be smart, fast, flexible, rugged, and easy-to-program."

FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a nonprofit organization founded in 1989 by engineer and inventor Dean Kamen, aims to inspire young people to be science and technology leaders. FIRST engages students in exciting robotics competitions where student teams build complex robotics systems while guided by professional mentors. The program builds math, engineering, and technology skills; encourages innovation; and fosters well-rounded life capabilities including self-confidence, communication, and leadership. Today, nearly 200,000 students worldwide are engaged in FIRST programs. Participation in the organization is often life-changing because FIRST students are more likely to pursue engineering, science, or math degrees and complete postgraduate degrees than their peers.

The FIRST program consists of various levels of competition that serve students from grade school to high school. The most advanced level is the FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) – a unique “varsity sport of the mind” designed to help young people discover the interesting and rewarding life of engineers and researchers. FRC challenges student teams and their mentors, who are typically professional engineers, to solve a complex problem in a six-week time frame using a standard "Kit of Parts" and a common set of rules. Teams design and build robots to meet the specific challenge of each annual competition.

FIRST redefines winning for these students because they are rewarded for excellence in design, demonstrated team spirit, gracious professionalism and maturity, and the ability to overcome obstacles. Scoring the most points is a secondary goal.

Tough Design Constraints Mirror Industry Challenges

Designing and building an FRC robot is a fascinating experience that closely mirrors a real-world engineering project. Each year the students must address mechanical design, electrical design, and programming needs for their robot design. All FRC teams have to manage limited budgets, adhere to a strict six-week time constraint, meet design constraints that change every year, and quickly learn to work with a new “Kit of Parts.” For example, in the 2009 competition teams needed to build a robot that could traverse a low-friction surface while collecting objects. Almost all teams programmed their robots to operate in autonomous or joystick-operated modes. Experienced teams even integrated a variety of sensors and actuators including motors and a camera.

FRC Robots Needed a New Brain

In 2007 and 2008, we began plans to update the FRC control system to take advantage of the latest industry technology and continually challenge students in the competition. We wanted to expose students to widely adopted, industry-standard technologies that they would likely use in college and their careers. Additionally, we were looking for a flexible embedded design platform that offered tight integration between the hardware and software tools. The system also needed to integrate a variety of I/O and sensors and be rugged enough to withstand operation in a competition environment. All of these items were essential because of the complex nature of the robots and the short build period.

FIRST Selects National Instruments as a Strategic Partner

We used the National Instruments CompactRIO platform for the next-generation FRC controller, or “brain” of the robot control system. By partnering with NI, we are providing high school students access to advanced control capabilities including a 400 MHz PowerPC and field-programmable gate array (FPGA)-based I/O. The CompactRIO modular I/O system offers connectivity to an array of sensor and actuator options and powerful vision processing capabilities, helping students create highly advanced robotics systems. Teams can develop robots that integrate driver-controlled and fully autonomous systems using the latest technologies including wireless monitoring and simulation for more in-competition control and accurate designs. Students program their robots based on CompactRIO in either LabVIEW graphical programming software or the ANSI C/C++ language.

NI offered a unique combination of hardware and software that could address the needs of sophisticated robotics applications. For instance, a portion of each year’s challenge includes an autonomous operation period where teams are restricted from remotely operating their robots; robots that score during this period are awarded more points than compared to the teleoperation period. Previously, autonomy was a mode of operation that a small percentage of teams were able to master. The new platform actively supported game rules encouraging autonomous operation resulting in a significant portion of the community successfully implementing autonomous solutions.

Also, CompactRIO is used by engineers in multiple industries, which was an important factor in our decision to use high-quality and widely adopted industry technology. We are exposing students to current industry engineering challenges as well as the industry-leading tools and technologies available to meet them. NI worked with its suppliers including Analog Devices, Texas Instruments, Xilinx, Wind River, Freescale, Altera, Boston Engineering, ChipX, Dove Electronics, MSI, TTI, and Westak to provide the CompactRIO controller specifically for FIRST. In addition to offering high-caliber technology for the competition, NI has also delivered dedicated support engineers and access to training resources specific to the competition. To help meet the training and support needs of mentors and students leading up to the competition and during the build season, NI launched an online user community just for FIRST participants. The NI FIRST Robotics Community contains LabVIEW example code, discussion forums, and video tutorials that help teams get started quickly with the new technology. This community also fosters a unique support program – the LabVIEW virtual mentors – where professional engineers can assist students with robotics issues without leaving their computers.

Sharing the Vision of Success

We believe that NI shares our vision to grow FIRST globally so that we can impact the lives of even more students. By adding CompactRIO and LabVIEW to the robotics platform of the competition, we increase the technical capabilities of the teams’ robots while making the programming more accessible to a much larger and diverse group of students.

To learn more about FIRST or find a team near you, visit usfirst.org

_{FIRST is a 501 (c) (3) not-for-profit independent from National Instruments and has no agency, partnership or joint venture relationship with National Instruments.}