Install the library#

The Button Board can be driven from a program on the Driver Station laptop — reading robot state from NetworkTables and pushing LED colours and display text back to the panel. bb is the Python library for that.

What you need#

• Python 3.9 or newer.
• pyserial.

python3 -m pip install pyserial

The library itself lives in tools/bb/ in the repository. Copy that directory next to your script, or put its parent on PYTHONPATH:

export PYTHONPATH=/path/to/BBRControlBoard/tools

Check it works#

from bb import Board

with Board.open() as board:          # finds the COM port by itself
    print(board.hello())

{'ok': True, 'product': 'Button Board', 'fw': '0.1.0', 'proto': 1, ...}

If it cannot find the board, pass the port explicitly — Board.open(port="COM7") on Windows, Board.open(port="/dev/ttyACM0") on Linux.

Without a board#

MockBoard lets you write and test a companion app with no hardware attached:

from bb import MockBoard

board = MockBoard()
board.led(3, "red")
print(board.state.leds)      # {('btn', 3): 'led 3 FF0000'}

One connection at a time#

Only one program can have the board open. If the config app has it open in a browser tab, your script cannot open it, and the other way round. Close one before starting the other.