FRC Workshop Simulators

Welcome to the FRC Programming Workshop! This folder contains interactive simulators to help you understand critical FRC concepts.

Available Simulators

1. Absolute Sensor Discontinuity Simulator (`ASDSim`)

Learn about absolute encoder wrap points and how to safely configure them.

Explore: Where sensors "wrap" around in their range
Visualize: Physical turret position vs software output
Understand: Hard stops and discontinuity points
Optimize: Find the safe configuration for your mechanism

Key Files: ASDSim.mdx → Components/Programming/ASDSimulator.jsx

2. Motor vs Mechanism Ratio Simulator (`MotorVsMechanism` or `MvMSim`)

Understand gear reduction and its effects on speed, torque, and control.

Explore: How rotor, sensor, and mechanism speeds relate
Visualize: Multi-stage gear train animations
Graph: Position traces for all three components
Experiment: Adjust ratios to see real-time effects

Key Files: MotorVsMechanism.mdx / MvMSim.mdx → Components/Programming/MotorVsMechanismSimulator.jsx

3. Motor Control System Configurator (`MotorControlConfigurator` or `PIDSim`)

Tune PID, feedforward, and gravity compensation gains.

Configure: PID coefficients (kP, kI, kD)
Feedforward: Static friction (kS), velocity (kV), and acceleration (kA) gains
Gravity: Compensation for different mechanism types
Simulate: Arm or Turret control modes
Slots: Store 4 different configurations for different control modes

Key Files: MotorControlConfigurator.mdx / PIDSim.mdx → Components/Programming/MotorControlConfigurator.jsx

Workshop Structure

Workshop/
├── ASDSim.mdx                      (Sensor Discontinuity)
├── MotorVsMechanism.mdx            (Primary Motor vs Mechanism)
├── MvMSim.mdx                      (Alias for above)
├── MotorControlConfigurator.mdx    (Primary Motor Control)
├── PIDSim.mdx                      (Alias for above)
└── _meta.json                      (Navigation configuration)

Components/Programming/
├── ASDSimulator.jsx                (Default export)
├── MotorVsMechanismSimulator.jsx   (Default export)
└── MotorControlConfigurator.jsx    (Default export)

How to Use the Simulators

Starting Out

Begin with Motor vs Mechanism Ratio to understand gear reduction
Move to Motor Control System to see how gains affect behavior
Finally, Sensor Discontinuity to ensure safe configurations

For Competition

Use Motor Control System to quickly test different gain sets
Reference the gains that work best in your code
Use Sensor Discontinuity when configuring absolute encoders

For Learning

Experiment with extreme values to see effects
Try oscillate vs continuous modes
Compare different slot configurations
Test both Arm and Turret modes

Technical Notes

All simulators are interactive React components
Canvas-based rendering for performance
Real-time physics approximation
No external dependencies (uses React hooks only)
Dark theme optimized for learning environments

File Organization

Each simulator follows this pattern:

MDX File in Workshop/ - Contains documentation and imports component
React Component in Components/Programming/ - Interactive simulator logic
Default exports - Compatible with Nextra MDX system

Next Steps

Read the documentation for each simulator
Experiment with different parameters
Export your preferred configurations
Compare results between simulators

Happy learning! 🚀

Motor Control System 2024-2025