2027 Alpha Testing Updates and Reminders

[Kevin-OConnor]

Thanks for all the work folks have put into testing Systemcore so far. The following set of updates and reminders is being sent out as an email to the alpha contacts for each team shortly:

1. Image Update - The Alpha 7 Systemcore image contains a fix for a significant bug which can result in robots remaining enabled if the Driver Station software becomes disconnected from the robot while the robot is enabled. All teams are strongly recommended to update to this release before performing any further testing on mobile robots. WPILib Alpha 2 is strongly recommended as well to protect against spurious disables while enabled on the field.

2. Report issues - Reminder that the purpose of the Alpha test is to identify any issues with the Systemcore hardware in advance of the design being locked for production. Any issues you may be having should be reported via the Systemcore Testing Github so we can work with you to root cause the issue and identify any potential hardware fixes or improvements. While various folks involved in the testing do hang out on CD, Discord, etc., you will get help much faster, and also help us much more, if you report these issues to the Github repo.

3. Progress Updates - Relatedly, we haven’t heard much from quite a few of you. If any member of your team has been actively posting in issues/discussions, you can skip ahead. If not, hopefully that means everything is going well! We didn’t really have a space or expectation set up for folks to tell us “everything’s fine” or “all issues we’ve seen seem to already be reported” but coupled with item 2 above, we’re a little spooked that folks may be struggling in silence so we’ve now created a space for that. If you’ve been testing but haven’t reported any issues or participated in discussions yet, over the next week or two if you could please start a thread in the new “Progress Updates” section and share a brief report (~ a paragraph or so) of what you’ve been up to that would be appreciated. This could include things like what hardware is on the platform you’ve tested with, have you gone to any events or done any significant practice at home, etc.

4. FTC testing – As outlined in the Blog posted yesterday we hope to be ready to share more information about Motioncore and the rest of the FTC system soon. We may be looking to start FTC testing shortly after we are ready to share that information, so we want to get ahead of things on the team selection side. If you are an organization that also participates in FTC and would be interested in “switching over” to testing Systemcore in an FTC context, we would like to know. Note: this doesn’t mean your FRC testing has to cease entirely but we would expect at least a shift in focus to testing for FTC.

   • If you already provided information regarding FTC participation in your initial application, there is no need to re-complete the application. If you did not, please re-complete the application including both your FRC and FTC team information.
   • Reply to this e-mail letting me know you would be interested in FTC testing. We don’t want to assume anyone chosen for FRC testing would like to do FTC testing just because they indicated FTC participation on their initial application, if we don’t hear back, we will assume you prefer to continue FRC testing.

5. IO Adapters Available – We know some folks have been struggling with sensor compatibility with the change from the roboRIO’s pull-up resistor configuration to the Systemcore Alpha’s pull-down. A revision has been made for future Systemcore hardware to support pull-up configuration for a more seamless transition from roboRIO/Control Hub. In the meantime, if you’re struggling with sensor compatibility for Alpha, Limelight has produced adapter boards which can be wired in between Systemcore and sensors, see this post on the Github for more information.

[Kevin-OConnor]

An additional note after some offseason this weekend:

• WPILib Alpha 2 - The WPILib Alpha 2 has a fix to prevent spurious "disabled" cycles. These are particularly noticeable during event matches, and especially during auto where your autonomous mode is likely to restart (if you don't have code to specifically prevent this). This has been edited into the "Image Update" section above as well.