CAN has many advantages over other methods of connection between the robot controller and peripheral devices.
- CAN connections are daisy-chained from device to device, which often results in much shorter wire runs than having to wire each device to the RIO itself.
- Much more data can be sent over a CAN connection than over a PWM connection - thus, CAN motor controllers are capable of a much more expansive feature-set than are PWM motor controllers.
- CAN is bi-directional, so CAN motor controllers can send data back to the RIO, again facilitating a more expansive feature-set than can be offered by PWM Controllers.
Supported CAN peripherals include:
- CAN speed controllers
- The Power Distribution Panel (PDP)
- The Pneumatics Control Module (PCM)
For instructions on wiring CAN devices, see the relevant section of the robot wiring guide <docs/getting-started/getting-started-frc-control-system/how-to-wire-a-robot:CAN Devices>.
CAN devices generally have their own WPILib classes. The following sections will describe the use of several of these classes.