Once again, Team 1816 is pleased to announce it has been selected to be a FIRST Beta Testing team. This season, we are one of 43 FRC teams from around the country and Israel selected to test new control station components as well as software. This is a greatly expanded testing program. Last season, The Green Machine was one of 18 teams selected to test the new Compact RIO and other related hardware and software; this season, we are one of 10 teams selected to test new C++ library functions, as well as new driver station hardware. Other FIRST Robotics teams are testing LabVIEW and new this year, Java, software.

Team 2220-Blue Twilight, Eagan, has agreed to work with us again this year to figure out the ins and outs of C/ C++. The new software and hardware should arrive by the end of September and we’ll dig in as soon as everything arrives. We’re all signed up for the FIRST beta test forum and are awaiting additional information. We plan to share all that we learn during this new Beta test during Minnesota Splash, Saturday, December 5, at the University of Minnesota. Plus, our newly written introduction to the cRIO will be posted on our website in October, check back soon!