The code subsystem’s job in the robotics team is to allow the robot, through programming, to function and perform the tasks necessary in game. Not only does the code team write all the commands for the robot from the controllers in TeleOp, it also codes all of the Autonomous for the robot as well, where the robot runs by itself.

Team 1259 codes the robot with C++ and WPI Library API, or a library that allows us to use commands to manipulate the robot at a low level. To allow the modification of code under multiple users, the team also uses Github, a cloud-based storage system for all software development. You can find our repositories, or code for the robot every year, under #1259 Paradigm Shift at Github. 

While the build and electrical sub-teams have more defined hours for the season, the code team is more fluid, as the coding for the robot does not always rely on availability of the robot itself. At the start of the season, the code team will first update the code to create a shell for the robot’s functions. As time progresses and more decisions are made, the code team will then write the logic necessary for the robot and assign buttons on the controllers to the movements on the robot. Finally, during and after the events, the code team will add optimizations to the function of the robot. Because the design of the robot takes some time and events occur much after the build season, the coding season is shifted a week or two later and is stretched much longer.

In the summer of 2019, Team 1259 has started off-season work, tackling new programming projects that the new robots will require to run. The code subsystem has been busy off-season programming our first ever 6 NEO West Coast Drive and also preparing some code for a potential Swerve drivetrain. A WCD is a drivetrain with a belly in the center, allowing for high modularity, and a Swerve drive is one where the wheels are allowed to turn themselves independently 360 degrees, giving maximum power in any direction and quick turning.