FTC #14273 Updates

[tkroon]

Sense & Sound 14273, 27050, 32859

[tkroon]

It took some time to get the development environment setup but once done adding the systemcore to an existing mecanum chassis based on actobotics parts went very well.

[tkroon]

We tried for the smallest robot with the Gobuilda channel and parts we had spare. We used the development environment originally setup for Hybrid to work with the new hardware. It is all running on a macbook including the driver station.

The most dificult part was getting the motors to accept firmware updates. A full cycle of power on every thing allowed us to get the motors to turn. The other tricky part was using our logitech controllers. The driver that we were able to use does not consider the triggers as analog but only digital. Also the names of the controlles as part of the driver class did not properly read the correct controls. The ultimate solution was to use the elastic dashboard to send all the controll signals by their HID number then use numbered controlls to make sure joysticks and triggers were not getting mixed up. The 500RPM gear boxes make a really fast robot.

[tkroon]

I will give that another try. Every time I switched to X it would not recognize the joysticks at all.

[ThadHouse]

What OS and what controllers?

[ThadHouse]

Ah. I realized you said macbook. The F310 requires the switch to be in D mode on macOS to show up at all. And then yes as you've seen the triggers are digital. There is nothing we can do to solve that, macOS gamepad support is very troublesome.

The buttons being different is not something I'm seeing however. All the buttons have correct mappings. Which ones are you seeing wrong? And you were using the "Gamepad" class, right? The "NiDs" prefixed classes will not work, do not use them.

[qwertychouskie]

It seems https://github.com/360Controller/360Controller was the most common solution in the past, but doesn't work on modern macOS (360Controller/360Controller#1139).

A comment near the end of that thread pointed to https://github.com/meghrathod/xinput-controller, and while I couldn't run the pre-compiled GUI app (required macOS 26), it includes a CLI tool, xinput_usb_tool.

Running ./xinput-usb-tool listen 100 1133 49693, my F310 turns on in Xinput mode, and controller events are printed, though sadly it still doesn't seem to be detected as a gamepad by macOS itself, at least on my system. That said, since the events are received, perhaps the data could just be passed directly to the DS, ignoring macOS's gamepad support?

I then found and tried https://github.com/xsyetopz/OpenJoystickDriver/. It actually detects and activates the F310 in Xinput mode, and the built-in tester showed the controller buttons/sticks/etc working, though some buttons are mis-mapped, and for some reason, the part that actually exposes the virtual gamepad to applications does not seem to be working on my system (SDL3's testcontroller saw the virtual gamepad, but inputs weren't being passed to it).

I just opened libsdl-org/SDL#15790 with my findings in hope that SDL3 might eventually integrate a userspace driver directly, but until then, OpenJoystickDriver seems the closest to getting the F310 (along with other not-Apple-supported controllers) properly working on macOS.

[qwertychouskie]

👀

Turns out SDL3 has the code necessary for it to work just fine, but it's deferring to macOS's gamepad APIs despite macOS not supporting this gamepad. Running the DS with SDL_JOYSTICK_MFI=0 SDL_HIDAPI_LIBUSB_WHITELIST=0 would allow it to work, except the logic for the xbox360-class gamepads only checks whether MFI is compiled into SDL itself, not whether the user/app has requested to disable it.

I just opened libsdl-org/SDL#15791 to fix SDL_HINT_JOYSTICK_MFI not being respected. @ThadHouse is it relatively easy to patch the copy of SDL3 built into the DS app? Or is it better to just wait until all the needed fixes are upstream?

[tkroon]

One of the team members and I figured a way to use the parts that came with the A301's to run this test. However, the mecanum wheels aren't a solid fit onto the new axels. We are looking forward to clamping hubs that screw onto the wheels and clamp onto the axels.

[gearsincorg]

You can get an interim solution by purchasing standard clamping hubs for an 8mm round shaft. (goBILDA has them, not sure who's wheels you are using. https://www.gobilda.com/1309-series-sonic-hub-8mm-bore/) More than strong enough for wheels.

[sandsrobotics]

Getting ready for teh New England Mentor Conference on 8/8-8/9. In the process we have added an arm with a few degrees of freedom and a gripper like the one used for into the deep. In the process I have a design for a clamping hub that attaches to the round spline block that came with the A301's. This holds the joints tighter until clamping hubs are available in aluminum.

Also the A301 driver is flipping direction when it passes a half rotation. This set position with isContinuous set to false lift.setAbsolutePosition(0,false); should not rotate past the set absolute position. I am trying various newer firmware now to see if there is a combination that will allow the arm lift to work. More information shortly.

[gearsincorg]

Can you send a video. It's hard to visualize when you mean.

[tkroon]

Thanks, good idea. What I did works with what came in the alpha kit and did not cost $7.99/actuator.

…

On Jul 19, 2026, at 5:30 PM, Phil Malone ***@***.***> wrote: You can get an interim solution by purchasing standard clamping hubs for an 8mm round shaft. (goBILDA has them, not sure who's wheels you are using. https://www.gobilda.com/1309-series-sonic-hub-8mm-bore/) More than strong enough for wheels. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#291?email_source=notifications&email_token=AAAYW27H3J626GHNGCXZCV35FU4YLA5CNFSNUABIM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2ENFZWG5LTONUW63SDN5WW2ZLOOQXTCNZWHEYTONJVUZZGKYLTN5XKMYLVORUG64VFMV3GK3TUVRTG633UMVZF6Y3MNFRWW#discussioncomment-17691755>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAAYW223ONDGAINEJESZKHL5FU4YLAVCNFSNUABIKJSXA33TNF2G64TZHM4TSNJVG42TINJSHNCGS43DOVZXG2LPNY5TCMBSGIZTGNJZUF3AE>. Triage notifications, keep track of coding agent tasks and review pull requests on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS <https://github.com/notifications/mobile/ios/AAAYW256XP5QMERJ2MBYI3T5FU4YLA5CNFSNUABIM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2ENFZWG5LTONUW63SDN5WW2ZLOOQXTCNZWHEYTONJVUZZGKYLTN5XKMYLVORUG64VFMV3GK3TUVJTG633UMVZF62LPOM> and Android <https://github.com/notifications/mobile/android/AAAYW25MW4MSLP4QGNZNMND5FU4YLA5CNFSNUABIM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2ENFZWG5LTONUW63SDN5WW2ZLOOQXTCNZWHEYTONJVUZZGKYLTN5XKMYLVORUG64VFMV3GK3TUVZTG633UMVZF6YLOMRZG62LE>. Download it today! You are receiving this because you authored the thread.

[tkroon]

I sorted out the flipping direction by intentionally staying away from the absolute limits. The newer drivers also respect the absolute position with speed so motion is at a more safe speed. Do you know how to get a301’s on firmware 15 to display on the motioncore status page? There are some reports that v14 downgrade is best, but that version doesn’t work with the RevLib I am using.

…

On Jul 19, 2026, at 5:31 PM, Phil Malone ***@***.***> wrote: Can you send a video. It's hard to visualize when you mean. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#291?email_source=notifications&email_token=AAAYW23PK344HUJLGRU3BBT5FU425A5CNFSNUABIM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2ENFZWG5LTONUW63SDN5WW2ZLOOQXTCNZWHEYTONJXUZZGKYLTN5XKMYLVORUG64VFMV3GK3TUVRTG633UMVZF6Y3MNFRWW#discussioncomment-17691757>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAAYW26VNDWZU4STZLFKVLT5FU425AVCNFSNUABIKJSXA33TNF2G64TZHM4TSNJVG42TINJSHNCGS43DOVZXG2LPNY5TCMBSGIZTGNJZUF3AE>. Triage notifications, keep track of coding agent tasks and review pull requests on the go with GitHub Mobile for iOS <https://github.com/notifications/mobile/ios/AAAYW23Z5ODTMAT6FYQJTZT5FU425A5CNFSNUABIM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2ENFZWG5LTONUW63SDN5WW2ZLOOQXTCNZWHEYTONJXUZZGKYLTN5XKMYLVORUG64VFMV3GK3TUVJTG633UMVZF62LPOM> and Android <https://github.com/notifications/mobile/android/AAAYW24VQZTUQ43VO2KTGED5FU425A5CNFSNUABIM5UWIORPF5TWS5BNNB2WEL2ENFZWG5LTONUW63SDN5WW2ZLOOQXTCNZWHEYTONJXUZZGKYLTN5XKMYLVORUG64VFMV3GK3TUVZTG633UMVZF6YLOMRZG62LE>. Download it today! You are receiving this because you authored the thread.

[jfabellera]

Since we changed the CAN protocol with 15, Limelight needs to update their UI to read the right messages. We've sent them the new protocol to be able to do that.