Driver Station

Driver Station Documentation:

This documentation is a summary of the full Driver Station documentation, located here: https://docs.wpilib.org/en/stable/docs/software/driverstation/driver-station.html

There is also a more detailed summary, along with pictures and examples of how we use Driver Station, located here, and written by the 2025-2026 Programming Lead: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1kfHjwwsmcIEVABGgM0_PcRB4FYSWU3KtUgULVwH-32Q/edit?slide=id.g382bbb0826b_0_25#slide=id.g382bbb0826b_0_25

For controlling the robot, we use Driver Station. There are five main tabs to look through, such as the operations tab, the diagnostics tab, the setup tab, the USB tab, and the power tab. The main tabs that we will use are the operation tab and the USB tab.

Operations Tab: - The operations tab is the main tab, and is the default opening tab. It's where you can pick the kind of testing you're doing, enable and disable the robot, see the computer and robot battery, see the robot communications, and look at warnings and errors. For the testing buttons, we mostly use TeleOperated, but obviously, if we're testing autons we'll want to use the Auton testing. If you're setting up for the driveteam, you may want to ask if they want to run a practice match, which runs the auto then the TeleOp mode, or if they just want to use TeleOp mode.

Diagnostics Tab: - This tab is for looking at firmware. It tells you the Driver Station version, the RoboRio version, and the WPILib version, which should all always be up to date. It also shows the amount of memory you're using, how you're connected to the robot, and is where you can either reboot the RoboRio or Restart Robot Code.

Setup Tab: - This tab is pretty simple, and for quick fixes. At the beginning of the season, if it's not set already, this is where you will go to set the team number, the default dashboard type, and specifics for practice match testing. Most of these stay the same, so you shouldn't have to play around in this tab too much.

USB Tab: - When you're testing the robot, you're likely using controllers. Before enabling the robot, you'll want to come into this tab and make sure the controllers are in the right slots. The driver controller should be in slot zero, and the operator controller should be in slot one. If you're using button board, the blue buttons should be in slot two, and the red in slot three. To make sure each are in the correct tab, you can press buttons on the controller, and they should light up green if it's in the right slot. If it's not in the right slot, you can just drag it to it's place. If the controllers aren't showing up, there are a few things you can do. The first thing you should do is unplug and plug it back in. If that still doesn't work, you can double click on a tab and it should appear there.

Power Tab: - The power tab is mostly there for troubleshooting. It tells you what specifically is being run, and if you're having comms issues, as well as how many volts the robot is using up.

Logging: - Driverstation can also be used to pull up logs! This is extremely beneficial during competitions, but can be used for regular testing as well. When you pull up the logs, it shows you a lot, but in the past we've mainly used it for brown-out issues (battery almost dying mid-match), or connection errots. Like the power tab, this will mostly be used for troubleshooting.