Workaround for FRC ADXRS450 Gyro failure: Returning All Zeros

Apparently the current version of WPILib(1st 2019 official release) isn’t happy with our ADXRS450 Gyros, and the getAngle() call always return zero.

Sadly the workaround, although present, doesn’t seems to be indexed by google yet…which is why I am making this post so more people could see it before deciding to spend their precious budget buying a new one, like us.

The workaround is found here, which I will present a copy here:

Auto SPI Does not work in v12 image (affects Analog Devices IMUs and Gyro))

The Auto SPI functionality used by Analog Devices IMUs (ADIS16448 and ADIS16470) and Gyro (ADXRS450) does not work correctly in the 2019-v12 image that is part of the kickoff release.

Workaround: After imaging, log into the robot console as admin (via serial or SSH) and run the command “updateNIDrivers”, then reboot. A simplified tool to execute this is in progress and more information about a full update with this issue resolved will be coming soon.

Solution: We will be issuing an updated FRC Update Suite with a new image that resolves this issue.

Anyway… If u are still unsure what to do:

  1. Connect to Roborio-connected router
  2. Open a terminal in an *nix/Macos/FreeBSD system, or use an emulator like Putty on Windows.
  3. SSH to the Roborio using username admin and an empty password. By default configuration, the command is : ssh admin@10.71.46.2
  4. Run updateNIDrivers, and reboot.
  5. Since the workaround require rebuilding the kernel, which is quite resource hungry, you may want to kill the running robot code by mv /home/lvuser/robot_java.jar /home/lvuser/robot_java.jar.disable;killall /usr/local/frc/JRE/bin/java;updateNIDrivers.
  6. Later mv /home/lvuser/robot_java.jar.disable /home/lvuser/robot_java.jar and reboot.