Java for the FIRST Robotics Competition!
| On April 16th we announced that Java would be available for the FIRST Robotics Competition. This is joint work between Sun and WPI to port Squawk (an open-source Java virtual machine) to the compactRIO robot control system, as well as the WPILib robotics library from C++ to Java. We expect this to be a great addition for FRC teams that have some Java programming experience, and will bring not only the combination of power and safety inherent in Java to robotics programming, but also the ecosystem of Java tools, libraries and learning resources. The exact flavor of Java that will be available is Java ME (Micro Edition), configured with the CLDC and IMP libraries. This is essentially the same flavor of Java that is installed in millions of cell phones (but without the graphic user interface libraries - LCDUI). In addition the system is based on the libraries and SDK of the Sun SPOT project. It includes over-the-air debugger support as part of integration with the NetBeans and Eclipse IDEs and also includes ant-based command line tools. |
 |
The Java system will be in closed alpha and beta releases over the Summer and Fall, and will be ship in the "kit of parts" for the 2010 season (if not earlier). We have also developed a software-only robot emulator that allows you to learn how to develop robotic software in Java using the Sun SPOT APIs (but doesn't yet include the WPILib APIs).
I'll be blogging more about this, including technical details, the Atlanta Championship, and Java + FIRST @ Java One, but here are some pointers to more information:
