Using Motor Controllers in Code¶
Motor controllers come in two main flavors: CAN and PWM. A CAN controller can send more detailed status information back to the roboRIO, whereas a PWM controller can only be set to a value. For information on using these motors with the WPI drivetrain classes, see Using the WPILib Classes to Drive your Robot.
Using PWM Speed Controllers¶
PWM speed controllers can be controlled in the same was as a CAN speed controller. For a more detailed background on how they work, see PWM Speed Controllers in Depth. To use a PWM speed controller, simply use the appropriate speed controller class provided by WPI and supply it the port the speed controller(s) are plugged into on the roboRIO. All approved motor controllers have WPI classes provided for them.
Spark spark = new Spark(
// The RIO PWM port this is connected to
0
);
spark.set(
// the output of the motor, between -1 and 1
-0.75
);
VictorSP victor = new VictorSP(
// The RIO PWM port this is connected to
0
);
victor.set(
// the output of the motor, between -1 and 1
0.6
);
frc::Spark spark{
// The RIO PWM port this is connected to
0
};
spark.Set(
// the output of the motor, between -1 and 1
-0.75
);
frc::VictorSP victor{
// The RIO PWM port this is connected to
0
};
victor.set(
// the output of the motor, between -1 and 1
0.6
);
CAN Motor Controllers¶
A handful of CAN speed controllers are available through vendors such as CTR Electronics and REV Robotics.
SPARK MAX¶
For information regarding the SparkMAX CAN Speed Controller, which can be used in either CAN or PWM mode, please refer to the SparkMAX software resources and example code.