Using Alchemist

Alchemist has three different header tabs: Device View, Graph, and Settings. If not everything is visible on screen, Alchemist will render scrollbars.

The Settings tab

This tab configures how Alchemist connects to the CANLink server on a Rio, as well as stored configuration and verison information.

Connecting to a robot

In the settings tab, enter either the appropriate team number or hostname under Enter IP Address or Team Number (such as 9999 or roboRIO-9999-FRC.local) and click Connect to CANBus!

The UI should display Connected! on success, and devices should now be visible in the Device View. If there are issues connecting or detecting devices:

  • Try pressing Disconnect and reconnecting with Connect to CANBus

  • Ensure the Rio is accessible by navigating to the IP/hostname in a web browser, which should bring up NI’s network configuration pages

  • Ensure that the CANLink server is running by redeploying your robot project with ReduxLib (see Setting Up the Redux CANLink Server)

  • Check that the Redux CAN devices are connected, and try power cycling them.

  • If all else fails, try selecting Clear Cache and restarting Alchemist.

Alchemist will remember the last address it was connected to and attempt to reconnect to it every time it is reopened.

The Graph tab

This tab displays device readings in real time from different devices onto a single graph. This allows for simple sensor debugging.

Select the sensor and values you want to add to the graph under Configure, and the data will automatically graph.

The Device View tab

This tab configures individual Redux devices.

Picture of a hypothetical devices screen

An example of the devices screen. Here there are two Canandcoders attached, with CAN IDs 0 and 1, respectively.

Device identification

All Redux CAN devices have a multi-color LED. Toggling the Blink LED! button on the top of a device page will strobe that device’s LED until toggled off. In addition, a button will appear to help you locate where the LED is on the device.

Editing device settings

The settings tab has device specific settings (such as frame periods or filter widths) that can be edited.

The save button will save changes to the device, and the cancel button will revert all changes.

Additionally, at the bottom of every card, whole device configuration can be saved and loaded with the Upload Config and Download Config buttons.

For more information on how to configure devices, see the individual device pages.

Tip

If you are unsure what a setting does, hover or click on the information icon next to it!

Firmware updates

The Check for firmware updates button will open a window allowing you to update devices and download new firmware. Pressing fetch new updates will download updates from the internet, and pressing install downloaded firmware will automatically download the firmware to the device.