FIRST Robot Simulator - Using the SimulationPanel effectively

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Intro

This page will explain how to use the SimulationPanel to control the simulation.

Structure of the Tcl Code Customizing the Operator Interface in Tcl Customizing the Robot in Tcl Customizing the C code Running It Using the SimulationPanel The Robot and Operator Interface Windows Index to Objects

The Simulation Control Window will look more or less like this. (The proportionality of the images and text will vary from computer to computer depending on its configuration and hardware.)

• On the left is the byte monitor. Values of various variables are displayed here. Unfortunately not every variable in the C code is accessible. Only those variables which are sent back and forth between the operator interface and the FRC; plus those variables which are sent back and forth between the FRC and the robot hardware.

  If you need a variable which is not shown, you may be able to add it. Study the way SimulationPanel.tcl. You would insert your code there.

• On the bottom left are a selection of buttons.
  • REPORT -- Tells the simulator to summarize the number of errors warnings and notes. These are messages sent by the reportstart() and its sisters. Those functions are defined in supportfuncs.c and supportfuncs.h. Due to a bug, the report will not show up in the log for a cycle or two.
  • INTERRUPT -- Cause an interrupt to the code. This function is not well tested.
  • Auto -- Auto mode.
  • Manual -- Manual mode.
  • Disable -- Disable the robot.
  Please note that at the start of each simulation you MUST select one of the buttons Auto, Manual, or Disable. Ideally this would default to Manual. But the code has a bug that I have been unable to erradicate. So you will have to do it manually.
• On the bottom middle are two sliders to control simulation speed.
  • FastRatio -- The number of fast cycles per slow cycle.
  • SimSpeed -- Roughly the number of simulation cycles per second. Warning -- Cranking this number up too high will lock up some computers.
• On the bottom right are more buttons and a time status window.
  • RUN -- Run the simulation
  • STOP -- Stop the simulation
  • STEP -- Single step the simulation
  • Time Status Window -- Elapsed Cycles and Simulation Time
    • The top number has two parts. The integer before the decimal point is the number of slow cycles. The integer after the decimal point is the number of fast cycles. If you have FastRatio set to 3, this number will increment as so: 0.1, 0.2, 0.3, 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 3.0...
    • The bottom number is simulation time. To the left of the colon is the number of minutes. To the right is the number of seconds carried out to hundredths of a second.
  • EXIT -- Exit the program
• In the middle is the message log.
  • Each simulation cycle will be logged here along with the values of many of the variables.
  • Along with each simulation cycle is displayed time.
  • Calls to reportstart() and its sisters will result in output to this window.
  • Substantially the same information is logged to the file "logfile".

Remember to select Manual or Auto whenever you start your simulation. Otherwise your simulation will not give useful output.

Next The Robot and Operator Interface Windows