180 Progress Update

[Ornamus]

Figured I'd write up a quick update now that our off-season events are completed :)

Team 180 was able to convert our 2025 robot to use the Systemcore successfully with minimal issue. Our only major issue was with Analog Inputs that we've already reported (#191), which we worked around by just not utilizing our potentiometers in favor of internal encoders (slight reduction in reliability, but it's off-season!). We also opted to abandon some optional 5v magnetic sensors we used on our climber since they wouldn't work at 3.3v and we weren't able to source good replacements quickly. Other than that, we were able to maintain full parity with our 2025 code, and even implement some minor improvements like adding an additional 200hz loop to run our auto-align code faster since we had so much more headroom to work with.

We competed at Pirate's Pillage this last weekend, and I'm happy to report that the Systemcore held up well! We didn't encounter any field connectivity issues, reboots, port failures, or anything of that sort. We had some brief confusion when we realized the 2027 WPILib alpha doesn't support controller rumbling, and that's about it. We were happy to show the Systemcore to other teams at the event and discuss our experiences with it so far.

Overall, very happy with how things have gone. Great hardware & support so far guys!

Hardware/sensors used:

• CTRE devices on CANivore & on Systemcore CAN bus
• REV absolute encoders wired to SmartIO ports
• REV motor controllers on Systemcore CAN bus