The Code

The robot was coded entirely in Java using the Android Studio IDE, which differs to the more beginner-friendly blocks IDE provided by FTC. Although blocks allows the programmer to make basic code for the robot, it simplifies Java and thus removes many pieces of useful functionality of Java.

The project is stored on an online repository host called GitHub, you can find the 2024-2025 season repository here. It is reccomended to store code in an online repository to prevent an accident where code is lost and unable to be recovered. Github and many other repositories, uses a file versioning tool called git, which is reccomended to use in order to preserve file history to revert changes if needed or to use as a progress record for the portfolio. Both "git" and "GitHub" are free and will prevent any accidental code loss.

The repository is forked from the original FtcRobotController. We expand upon this code in TeamCode/src/main/java/org/firstinspires/ftc/teamcode, as per FTC's instructions. The robot is built on one initial class called RobotBase.java, which is used in all TeleOp classes as it provides reusable methods and variables reused in in AutoJava.java and DriveJava.java. DriveJava is simple and mainly provides a for loop that iterates over each gamepad button to check if it is active, if it is the corresponding interaction is activated (i.e. moving the joystick up triggers the wheels moving forward). For AutoJava see the below section.

Auto and the Debugger

The Autonomous of our robot is capable of picking up 4 samples and placing them in high basket within the time limit. To do this there are 2 main components. The main AutoJava class and the Debugger. The first component is the Debugger, a custom TeleOp class that records the movements of the robot on to a file that can be reused later. Then that file is fed into the second component, AutoJava, which by translating the saved file values into the code, can replicate the same actions made with the Debugger.

In the repository AutoJava is extended multiple times in different classes within the auto directory. This is for the purpose of having different auto sequences, like red side 4 samples, blue side 4 samples, parking, or specimen hanging. Each new sequence of movements recorded with the Debugger must be implemented in a new class extended off of AutoJava.