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Control System Startup Guide

FIRST Global Control System Startup Guide - Rev 0 Copyright 2017 REV Robotics, LLC
Control System Startup Guide
This guide will show you how to set-up and configure your robot. The examples here assume you have built a simple
robot with two drive motors.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 Required Materials ................................................................................................................................................................. 1

2 Driver Station and Control Hub Paring ................................................................................................................................. 2

3 Configure Your Robot ............................................................................................................................................................. 6

4 Accessing Blocks Programming Interface ......................................................................................................................... 10

4.1 Using the Driver Station Tablet .................................................................................................................................. 10

4.2 Using a Laptop............................................................................................................................................................. 11

5 Program Your Robot ............................................................................................................................................................ 14

6 Drive Your Robot ................................................................................................................................................................... 17

7 Connect the Expansion Hub ................................................................................................................................................ 20

8 Additional Resources ........................................................................................................................................................... 21

Revision Release Date Document Changes

Rev 0 3/30/2017 Initial Release

FIRST Global Control System Startup Guide - Rev 0 Copyright 2017 REV Robotics, LLC
1 Required Materials

Control Hub Slim Battery

Amazon Fire Tablet
REV-31-1152 REV-31-1302

USB Game Pad USB A Female to Micro USB

REV-31-1159 REV-31-1426

Optional Additional Materials needed to Connect the Expansion Hub:

• Expansion Hub (REV-31-1153)

• XT30 Extension Cable
• Communication Cable (RS-485)

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2 Driver Station and Control Hub Paring
When you first receive your kit, you will have to pair (link) your Driver Station (Amazon Fire Table) to your Control Hub.
This procedure only needs to be performed once for each set of hardware. If you exchange (replace) your tablet or
control hub, this procedure will need to be repeated. See Section 2, ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS, of the Building Guide,
on the FIRST Global website for more information.

Warning: If you connect your tablet to the internet, you MUST disconnect from the internet
before using the Driver Station. If you do not, this can affect the quality of your connection
from the Driver Station to the control hub. To disconnect, perform a long press on the network
that you are connected to, then select “Forget network” from the menu.

Pairing the Driver Station with the Control Hub

1. Power on the Control Hub, by plugging

the 12V Slim Battery into the orange
XT30 connector labeled “BATTERY” on
the Control Hub.

2. The Control Hub is ready to pair with the

Kindle Fire when the LED turns green.
Note: the light blinks blue every ~5
seconds to indicate that the control hub
is healthy.

3. Power on the Kindle Fire by holding down

the top right button.

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 4. Open the FTC Driver Station Application
from the Kindle HOME Screen.

5. On the Driver Station page, open the

menu from the top right corner, then
select “Settings”.

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 6. Select, “Connect with Robot Controller”.

7. Wait for your Control Hub Wifi Direct

name to show up.

This may take up to 30 seconds. It is a

randomly generated name for each
control hub but will take the format of
“0000-ABCD-RC”. After you select the
radio button, it will turn blue.

8. Locate the triangle Android back button

and press the triangle Android back
button twice. This takes you to the Driver
Station page.

9. The LED on the Control Hub will blink a

fast red and yellow repeating pattern.

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 10. Press the button on the Control Hub to
pair the control hub to the tablet.

11. After a couple of seconds, the Driver

Station page will indicate:
• the network name
• ping time
• battery voltage

Your Driver Station is now paired with your Control Hub!

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3 Configure Your Robot
When you build your robot, you will need to configure it before you can program it. This will allow you to give your
sensors and actuators meaningful names that you can reference while programming.

For this example we will use the robot we built in the “Practice-Bot Build Walkthrough” video located on the FIRST Global
website. This robot has two motors that we will now configure.

Configuring Your Robot for the First Time

1. Select the menu on the Driver Station page. Then

select “Configure Robot”.

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 2. Select “New” in the top left hand corner.

3. Select “Expansion Hub Portal 1”.

4. Select “Expansion Hub 1”.

5. Select “Motors”.

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 6. Select the Drop Down menu for “Port 0” then select
“Rev Robotics Core Hex Motor”.

7. Press “Enter motor name here” and name the motor

“left_drive”.

This is the name that you will use when you are
programming your robot to control this motor.
Always use descriptive names so that you can
remember what a device does when you are
programming.

8. Repeat the process for “Port 1” and name the motor

“right_drive”.

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 9. Press the “Done” button (at the top left corner of the page) 3 times.

10. Press “Save”.

11. Enter “miniBot” as your configuration name, then

select “OK”.

12. You now have an active configuration called

“miniBot”. Press the Android back button to return to
the Driver Station page.

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4 Accessing Blocks Programming
Interface
There are multiple ways to program your robot. This section will show you how to access the Blocks programming
interface on the driver station tablet or from your computer.

4.1 Using the Driver Station Tablet

Getting Started Programming Your Robot Using the Driver Station Tablet

1. Select “Robot Interface” from the Driver Station

Menu.

2. Select “Program”. This will bring you to the “My Op

Modes” page.

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4.2 Using a Laptop

Getting Started Programming Your Robot Using a Laptop

1. Select “Programming Mode” from the Driver

Station Menu.

2. Take note of the WiFi network name that is

displayed.

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 3. Connect to this network on your laptop.
Ensure that you select the correct network,
elect to connect automatically, and then
select connect. If you have problems at this
step please refer to the Blocks Programming
Guide troubleshooting section on the FIRST
Global website.

4. Take note of the passphrase on the

“Programming Mode” page

5. When the laptop prompts you, enter the

passphrase and select OK.

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 6. After successfully connecting to the network,
take note of the address on the “Programming
Mode” page.

7. Open your browser on your laptop. We

recommend Google Chrome. Enter
“http://192.168.49.1:8080” in the address bar
and press the “Enter” key on your keyboard.

8. Select “Program”. This will bring you to the

“My Op Modes” page. Please Note that the
“Driver Station” button is only enabled
when using the Driver Station application
on the tablet.

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5 Program Your Robot
There are multiple ways to program your robot. This section will show you how to use the Blocks programming
interface to program a simple “Op Mode”. An “Op Mode” is how you tell your robot to perform certain actions, given
certain inputs.

For more information on other programming methods, including using Java, see the FIRST Global website
http://first.global

Program Your Robot

1. Select “Create New Op Mode” from the

“Projects” page.

2. Name the Op Mode “MiniBot” and select

OK.

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 3. Your screen should look like the
following. This is the “Blocks” page.

4. Now watch the video from the FIRST Global site called “Software Tool Overview”. This will show you how to
program your Mini Bot so you can drive it using your game controller.

5. Your program should look like this when

you are finished:

6. Now that you have completed

programming, be sure to press the “Save
Op Mode” button.

If you are using a laptop continue to

Section 6 “Drive Robot”

If you are using a tablet, flick up from the

bottom of the screen, and press the
Android back button, then continue on to
Step 7.

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 7. You will be back at the “My Op Modes”
page. Flick up again and press the
Android back button.

8. You will be back at the “Robot Interface”

home page. Now select the “Driver
Station” button.

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6 Drive Your Robot
Drive Robot

1. Plug your game controller into the

micro USB slot on the Amazon Fire
Table.

2. On the game controller hold “START”

and press “A” to pair the controller
with the Driver Station.

3. On the Driver Station, a game

controller icon will appear for “User
1” in the top right of the screen.

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 4. Select the “TeleOp” drop down
menu.

5. Select the “MiniBot” Op Mode.

6. Select “INIT” to initialize your Op

Mode.

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 7. Select play to start your Op Mode.

8. Now you can drive your Mini Bot

using the left and right sticks on
your game pad!

9. Select Stop when you are done.

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7 Connect the Expansion Hub
If you want to use more than 4 motors or 6 servos, you will need to add the expansion hub to your
robot. The expansion hub has almost all the same ports as the Control Hub, but doesn’t have any
wireless capability. Every robot must use the Control Hub to pair with the driver station tablet, but
not all robots will need to use an expansion hub.

Adding an Expansion Hub to your Robot

1. Use the battery extension cable to connect power

between the Control Hub and the Expansion Hub.

2. Use the RS485 cable and a 3-pin JST PH

connector, to connect the RS485 port on the
Control Hub to the Expansion Hub.

3. From the Driver Station choose “Configure Robot”

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 4. Select “New” in the top left hand corner.

5. Select “Expansion Hub Portal 1”

6. Now you have 2 Hubs to choose from. Configure

and program as necessary. Please see the
“Configure your robot” section of this document
for an overview of configuration.

8 Additional Resources
1. Building Guide, Section 2 ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS is useful for part definitions
2. Instructional videos are all useful. This document references the “Practice-Bot Build Walkthrough” and the
“Software Tool Overview” videos.

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