I am new to FLL this year (and new to the listserv), although coached 
(3) years of Junior FLL leading up to this year.  I am a former Adept 
and Staubli robot programmer, so I feel I am helping the kids structure 
reasonable code.  However, I am having trouble with the EV3 software. 
Our blocks of code get into a mode where much of the information in a 
given block of code is not visible and nothing in that program at all is 
selectable.  Please see attached picture.  For example, a simple math 
block has an "a" and a "b" and numbers or data wires in the associated 
boxes.  The "a" and the "b" are not visible.  The block body is blank 
instead.  The values for "a" and "b" are blank.  The values can't be 
changed.  The block can't be selected.  And much of the time, nothing at 
all in the entire program is selectable.  Occasionally, I fidget around 
with other things and come back to it, and suddenly it is all back to 
normal.  But a few minutes later, the problems come back.

It seems very unusual that the project is only 93 KB, but the software 
takes about 4 minutes to load the project.  The software struggles to 
close properly and often requires Task Manager to open and close to 
actually get the graphics off the desk top.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled the software on my Windows machine. 
I have also tried loading the software and code on my wife's Windows 
machine.   It operates the same on both machines.  I installed the 
latest update that became available today without effect.

Can anyone tell me how to get past this problem?  Right now the kids and 
I are fighting this software issue instead of having fun programming the 
robot.

I am wondering if using a Windows machine is the problem.  Do I need to 
buy a Mac or try the iPad interface or something like that?

Any advice on this issue would be much appreciated.  I know this next 
question is absolutely ridiculous in all likelihood, but is there a 
chance that the code we are writing is too sophisticated?  We are 
writing code that closes the loop around the gyro with switch blocks 
internal to that control loop.  Seems like fairly simple stuff, but I 
noticed the problems right about the time we decided that switches 
inside the control loop helped us with several accuracies.

Matt Michel

Junior FLL Fire Chargers 2014
Junior FLL Golden Dragons 2015
Junior FLL Golden Dragons 2016
FLL Golden Dragons 2016

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