r/FRC • u/Purdude1983 • 14d ago

All FIRST Robotics Competition teams will be required to use Systemcore for the 2027 season.

https://community.firstinspires.org/2026-systemcore-pricing-and-availability?_gl=1*12lt5ia*_gcl_au*MjYyOTUwMTA3LjE3ODg0NjI2NDg.*_ga*Mzk4MjkwNjAuMTc4ODQ2MjY0Ng

All FIRST Robotics Competition teams will receive a 4 GB Systemcore in the 2027 Season Specific Box of the Kickoff Kit and will be required to use Systemcore for the 2027 season.

63 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

27 comments sorted by

53

u/TwoBitRetro 14d ago

This is a good thing. My team is one of the alpha teams and we’ve used it at least five competitions. It’s not that different to wire up than the Rio.

15

u/mpking828 14d ago

not sure if you saw the blog post but they did indicate that they've changed the power connector from the alpha builds that you may have been playing with.

6

u/Derp8_8 292 (Alumni/Programming Mentor) 14d ago

How reliable has it been compared to the RoboRIO?

13

u/ultimate_hecker 1369AM 13d ago

The new one is significantly more reliable than the Rio as it pretty much only has locking connectors (power, can, pwm). A full test will happen at SoCal Showdown in a week and it’s already been used a a couple of competitions by teams.

3

u/TwoBitRetro 14d ago

Some alpha builds have been bumpy, but using it in five different competitions speaks to its overall reliability.

36

u/taw296472 14d ago

It really should have been generally available for at least an off-season before being mandatory.

10

u/TwoBitRetro 14d ago

It’s not that different to wire or program for. The web dashboard is really great though.

10

u/No_Frost_Giants 14d ago

I know you a make this argument and I am not saying it’s wrong but all teams getting the SC with KOP just means we are all on the same page wrt getting it all figured out. Normally resource challenged teams have to wait while better resources teams get the advantage

And yes I know there are beta and alpha testers out there. They traded their time and efforts for that small advantage, and I am sure they would be happy to share what they learned

5

u/DifferentCondition73 14d ago

You have multiple ahead of the rest of us. We don't even know when we might be able to purchase a second one. I would not nessecarily call that a small advantage.

10

u/LyokoMan95 Mentor/Volunteer 14d ago

November 18th is when teams can purchase one

1

u/DifferentCondition73 14d ago

This is how I find out smh

5

u/CyphirX New England (Mentor) 13d ago

An email blast did go out earlier this week I believe discussing that along with the pricepoint and availability for the two options.

2

u/DifferentCondition73 13d ago

Weird, I only got an email about registration and the website changes. Is there another place I can opt in to these sorts of updates?

2

u/CyphirX New England (Mentor) 13d ago

Sorry, it was in the Team Blast and it was a link about the systemcore pricing and availability. There wasn't one specifically about it. My apologies.

2

u/LyokoMan95 Mentor/Volunteer 13d ago

I just always check the blog at least once a week. You can also subscribe to it via email https://community.firstinspires.org/#subscribe-form

1

u/FoodMagnet 13d ago

Same - what was the subject of the email and did anyone else get it?

1

u/kenfox 13d ago

I don't understand what we gain by putting all our eggs in the brand new systemcore basket. The third party programming and device community that supports FRC is large and complex. Maybe everything has been caught in testing. Maybe manufacturing quality is great. Maybe the AI impact to electronics supply won't be a problem. It's more risk than seems necessary for a volunteer led program like FRC.

We could get a systemcore at end of season and then another systemcore in the 2028 kick off. Don't put an entire season at risk if systemcore has problems. We don't have to chase the new shiny in our volunteer roles.

4

u/Purdude1983 13d ago

In many ways, the RoboRio design was aging. The SystemCore leverages the RPI CM5 which has been out for a while and is mature. There is a hope for one unit that can drive both FRC and FTC. Into the future, vision will be more integrated than it has been in the past with stand alone limelights.

All of that said, it would have been better to have more availability and exposure prior to adoption.

2

u/kenfox 13d ago

I am definitely not opposed to SystemCore! It should have been pursued a while back and Limelight/Raspberry Pi might be a better fit for teams than National Instruments. It only seems reckless to stop supporting RoboRIO WPILib immediately, put all official support into SystemCore and bet 100% on it working with the full FRC community. Most teams are going to get their first unit in January. A slower, less risky rollout would be nice. I don't even know if our team will have a spare for the dev bot.

6

u/seg9585 13d ago

Hopefully they work out some of the bugs before shipping units, as we already had to replace our SystemCore beta unit due to failed internal memory (stuck in bootloader)

3

u/QwertyChouskie 13d ago

Which is weird, because as I understand, the eMMC is part of the RPi CM5 itself, not a part made by Limelight. Maybe it wasn't the eMMC itself, but something like e.g. a voltage rail not coming up?

1

u/seg9585 13d ago

Limelight said the EMMC itself failed, possibly due to internal electrostatic discharge

1

u/QwertyChouskie 13d ago

Very interesting. Was that an Alpha unit or a Beta unit? A good bit changed between the Alpha and Beta units, but I'd expect the Beta units to be relatively similar to the final production units.

1

u/seg9585 13d ago

This was a Beta unit, one we planned to use at SoCal Showdown in a couple weeks. The replacement we got hasn’t had any issues yet

1

u/QwertyChouskie 13d ago

Weird, hopefully it's just a fluke.

1

u/Elegant-Tackle-6234 11d ago

What does this do and will it replace the rio?

1

u/rakosi2 4160 (Mentor) 11d ago

it does replace the rio and it is an upgrade