QDriverStation

QDriverStation
	QDriverStation main window
Original author(s)	Alex Spataru
Stable release	21.04 / April 7, 2021; 3 years ago
Written in	C, C++, QML
Operating system	Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, OS X, Linux
Available in	3 languages
Type	FIRST Robotics Competition, Software, Qt
License	MIT License
Website	frc-utilities.github.io

The QDriverStation is a free and open-source robotics software for the FIRST Robotics Competition.

The project was started in September 2015^[2] by Alex Spataru (Team 3794), with the objective to provide a stable, free, extensible and friendly to use alternative to the FRC Driver Station. Since then, several FRC students, alumni and mentors have contributed^[3] to the project by providing feedback, documenting the communication protocols and creating Linux packages.

Features

Some important features of the QDriverStation are:

The QDriverStation implements a simple auto-updater to ensure that teams are running the latest version of the software.
The QDriverStation uses SDL to obtain joystick input, but it also implements the option to enable a "virtual joystick^[4]", which uses the keyboard keys to operate the robot.
The QDriverStation implements a simple sandbox around every protocol to ensure the safe operation of the robot and the software.
The QDriverStation uses the Qt framework to implement the Graphical user interface.

FRC communication protocols

The developers of the QDriverStation have implemented the 2014,^[5] 2015 and 2016 FRC communication protocols. Some users have requested to implement support for the ROS protocol, however, work for this feature has not been published yet.

Mobile version

The developers of the QDriverStation have also developed a side-project for mobile devices^[6] (such as Android and iOS) with QML. The mobile version has most of the capabilities that the desktop version has.