ThunderAuto
Description
ThunderAuto is a custom tool for creating pahts for FRC robots.
ThunderAuto’s code is hosted on GitHub here.
Supported on Windows and macOS.
Creating a Project
Select the “New Project” button on the Welcome popup, or press Ctrl+N.
You need to specify a few settings to create a project:
- Path
- The location to save the .thunderauto project and all of the exported .csv files.
- Field
- Which field to use. I will update the app with every year's game field, although choosing Custom will open a popup to select a custom field image.
- Controller Type
- What kind of drivetrain the robot uses. Only Holonomic (Swerve) drivebases are currently supported by ThunderAuto, with Ramsete drivebases soon? to come.
- Robot Length
- Length of the robot (meters).
- Robot Width
- Width of the robot (meters).
The Editor
Path Editor Page
The Path Editor page presents the current path on top of the field image. Points can be selected and dragged around to shape the desired path.
Pan around with Shift+Left-Click or Middle-Click. Zoom with the scroll wheel.
Double-Click to create a point. Double-clicking the curve will insert the new point into it. Double-clicking anywhere else will add a point to whichever end is closer to the cursor.
Use the Delete or Backspace keys to delete the selected point.
A tooltip is shown when the cursor hovers over the curve. The tooltip includes the time, velocity, centripetal acceleration, and curvature at the hovered point.
By default, the color of the curve represents the velocity of the robot (blue = slow, magenta = fast). This can be changed in the Properties page.
Path Manager Page
The Path Manager page presents a list of all paths in the project.
The selected path in this page is shown in the Path Editor and Properties pages.
Rename a path by double-clicking its name.
Delete a path by clicking the trash can icon.
Properties Page
The Properties page presents properties related to the currently selected point and general path properties.
The Point dropdown contains tools related to the selected point. Properties include the point’s position, heading, heading weights, rotation, and whether to stop there.
If the Stop checkbox is checked the robot will decelerate to a stop at that point. When stopped, the point’s incoming and outgoing headings may be different.
There is also a dropdown named Actions where actions from the Actions Page can be checked on/off for the point.
The Path dropdown contains tools related to the selected path.
The Export button will export the path to a CSV file in the project’s directory. The CSV file is named using the path’s name shown in the Path Manager Page.
The Linear Accel and Linear Velocity fields edit the robot’s maximum allowable acceleration and velocity when traveling the path.
The Centripetal Accel field controls the maximum centripetal acceleration of the robot as it makes a turn.
The following fields control what’s displayed in the Path Editor Page. The Curve Overlay field controls the color of the curve. The Show Tangents, Show Rotation, and Show Tooltip checkboxes control whether their respective items are rendered.
Actions Page
The Actions page presents the global list of actions. Actions can be assigned to points in the Properties Page.
Installation
Keep ThunderAuto up to date! Backwards compatibility is not guaranteed!