README.md

• version: 0.9.6
• status: released (first release version: 0.8.5)
• comments: We have been using this library for robot development since December 2020, and believe it is ready for general use.

a05annexUtil

Utility classes for use in First FTC/FRC robot code, but that are not dependent on either First FTC or First FRC infrastructure. We built this library as we realized that there is a lot of common code (functionality) that we use both inside and outside the robot-specific code - for example, in autonomous path planning, reading/writing JSON data files, etc. We wanted to package that code so that it could be used regardless of the FTC/FRC base platform libraries and/or hardware.

a05annexUtil Library Contents

• geo2d - some 2d geometric classes
  • KochanekBartelsSpline - a spline formulation continuous in position, velocity, and acceleration.
  • Vector2d - a 2d vector used in the spline code.
  • Plane2d - a 2d representation of a plane that we can use for collision testing between the robot and the field boundary or field elements during path planning.
• geo3d - some 3d geometric classes
  • Line3d - an explicit parametric 3d line.
  • PackageContents - the constants and test for close enough to be considered zero (0.0). Used in matrix singularity and zero length vector normalization checks.
  • Plane3d - and implicit 3d plane.
  • Point3d - a 3d point.
  • SingularMatrixException - An exception thrown when a singular matrix is inverted.
  • Vector3d - a 3d vector.
  • Xfm4x4d - a 3d transformation that can be applied to points and vectors.
  • ZeroLengthVectorException - And exception thrown when a zero-length vector is normalized.
• AngleD - a class that maintains angles in radians with convenience methods for degree input/output.
• AngleConstantD - a class that maintains constant angles.
• AngleTYpe - The angle unit specification..
• JsonSupport - a class with helper functions to aid in reading/writing JSON files.
• Utl - a class which extends the java Math class with variable argument min(), max(), length(), and clip() functions.

Including a05annexUtil in your build.gradle

We wanted to package a05annexUtil so it was easy for us to use in future years, and easy for you to use in your FRC projects. We found this was not as easy as we had hoped as publishing artifacts to Maven repositories is non-trivial, but we now have it all working.

There are a couple paths for inclusion.

The Best Method

Simply add it to the dependencies section of your gradle.build file as:

dependencies {
    implementation 'org.a05annex:a05annexUtil:0.9.6'
     .
     .
     .
}

Also add a dependency for testCompile if you need it for testing.

Download the .jar and Make it Part of Your Project

The next most simple way to use a05annexUtil, following the advice from this chiefdelphi post and advises you:

• create a libs folder in your robot project
• copy the a05annxUtil-0.9.6.jar file from the github 0.9.6 release into that libs folder
• in the dependencies section of the build.gradle file add the line:
  implementation fileTree(dir: 'libs', include: ['*.jar'])
• add the libs/a05annxUtil-0.9.6.jar to git so it is saved as part of your project.

The disadvantage of this method is that you must manually download the library and put it in your project, you also need to check for version updates.

Release Notes

• version 0.9.6 - 05-Dec-2023 - 2023 Charged Up season and post season improvements:
  • Added Utl.inTolerance(...) method for testing whether a value is within a specified tolerance of a target value.
  • Fixed an issue in explicit specification of path control point headings where the detection/correction of interactively edited headings for the ±180° boundary was being applied to headings explicitly set in a control point dialog box, which could corrupt the value being set.
• version 0.9.5 - 07-Feb-2023 - API for manually edited control point rotation speed.
• version 0.9.4 - 18-Nov-2022 - Bug fixes, documentation, more unit testing.
• version 0.9.3 - 11-Feb-2022 - Prep for 2022 Rapid React:
  • Made AngleD more robust and added AngleConstantD implementation.
  • KochanekBartelsSpline: bug fixes and robot actions:
    • Headings are now specified using AngleD
    • When derivatives for control points adjacent to the start and end control points were set to zero this would generate a divide by zero condition that broke the path between the adjacent point and the start or end point. This has been fixed.
    • Added robot actions to the path. Actions are Command class names of commands in the frc.robots.commands package. Actions have two types:
      • A serial action at a control point where path following (and the robot) stops, a command is executed (like aim and shoot - where aims take control of the drive subsystem), and when the command finishes, control returns to the path follower.
      • A parallel action (like spin up the collector) which can be scheduled anywhere along the path, and may not require the drive subsystem.
• version 0.9.1 - 11-Nov-2021 - 3d vector geometry addition.
• version 0.8.7 - 25-Apr-2021 - Some convenience fixes:
  • KochanekBartelsSpline:
    • load(...) and save(...) now return true-false to indicate success or failure of the load-save;
    • added a speed multiplier, allowing the speed of path traversal to be uniformly scaled up or down;
    • added time control for individual points on the path allowing path segment speeds to te finely controlled relative to other path segments;
    • adjusted the operation of controlPointDelete() and controlPointInsert() for minimal disruption of path geometry and timing when they are used;
    • more complete unit testing for the spline operators.
  • Added the Utl.clip(...) function and with testing to support subsystem tuning branches.
• version 0.8.6 - 14-Feb-2021 - Fixed issue #1, load problems for an empty (no control points) path.
• version 0.8.5 - 26-Dec-2020 - The first real release. Things were mostly tested and documented.
• version 0.8.0 - 18-Nov-2020 - We were just trying to figure out the release process - please ignore this one