Hi ,

Here's some updates and news from FIRST^® Tech Challenge.

In this week's blast: 

🤖 Upcoming Team Webinars

💻 Tech Tip of the Week

⚡ REV Control Hub 1.1.4 Early Access

Upcoming Team Webinars 

Join us next week for our Team Gameplay Webinar, Thursday, March 7 at 9:00 p.m. ET.  Read more about our webinar timing and topics on our blog. 

Tech Tip of the Week  

Have you ever been programming your robot (especially in Blocks and OnBot Java) using FTC SDK APIs and wished you could see the source code under the hood that executes the commands you’re calling? Welcome to the Tech Tip of the Week, where we’re going to explore the Extracted-RC GitHub repository. Note that Android Studio users can already browse source code within Android Studio! 

Several years ago, FIRST Tech Challenge gave permission for the OpenFTC project to extract AAR’s from our SDK releases and publicly post an extracted version of the Robot Controller source code. The Extracted-RC repository has branches that contain source code for each release of the SDK, as far back as SDK 5.2 through SDK 9.0.1 (as of the time of writing of this article). You can look up how setPower() works on a Continuous Rotation Servo, how REV Core Hex motors are defined, how Blocks OpModes are started, and even see the built-in driver for the HuskyLens vision camera. 

The Extracted-RC repository will not accept Pull Requests (PR’s) since the repository has no actual development purpose - it is only to allow interested folks the ability to read the source code and see how things are implemented. Only FIRST^® staff and Tech Team members have access to the development source. Are you interested in joining the FIRST Tech Challenge Tech Team? Let us know by filling out this survey! 

REV Control Hub OS 1.1.4 Early Access 

REV Control Hub OS 1.1.4 is now available through FTC Early Access. This version of the REV Control Hub OS is intended to reduce the frequency of an issue that could cause the BHI260AP IMU in Control Hubs purchased after September 2022 to reset after an ESD event. This Early Access is most easily available through the REV Robotics Hardware Client, though instructions are also provided below for non-Hardware-Client users. Control Hub Teams who would like to give the Early Access version of REV Control Hub OS 1.1.4 a try can do so by following these steps: 

REV Robotics Hardware Client Instructions 

1. Update your REV Robotics Hardware Client to the latest version or better (1.6.4 or better).
2. In the “Downloads” tab, click the “Check for Updates” button in the upper-right to refresh available software. 
3. Under “Subscribe to Software Channels” at the bottom of the “Downloads” tab, there is a new drop-down labeled “Public Channels”.
4. Use the “Public Channels” drop-down and select “FTC Early Access”.
5. “FTC Early Access – Control Hub Operating System” will appear under “Available Files” within “Updates from Software Channels”. Click the Download button to download the early access software. 
6. Once downloaded, “1.1.4 from FTC Early Access” will appear as a version option to update the “Control Hub Operating System” on supported devices (e.g. Control Hubs). 

Non-Hardware Client Instructions 

1. Download the Control Hub OS 1.1.4 ZIP file from GitHub. 
2. Use this file to update the Control Hub OS using Method 2.