# Lesson 7: AdvantageScope

Teachers will show students how to use AdvantageScope to visualize, record, and debug robot data in real time. Students will learn to view PID loops, sensor readings, and command states.

• Completion of Lesson 6: PID Loops with Feedforward.
• Robot code includes sensors or PID control data.
• AdvantageScope installed on laptops.

This lesson introduces the concept of data visualization for robotics debugging. Show how telemetry helps tune systems more effectively than guesswork.

Explain that AdvantageScope is a WPILib-compatible tool that displays:

• Real-time graphs of sensor data, motor outputs, and PID errors.
• Command and subsystem states.
• Logged events and system messages.

Discuss its role in data-driven debugging.

Demonstrate logging data manually from subsystems:

import edu.wpi.first.util.datalog.DataLog;
import edu.wpi.first.util.datalog.DoubleLogEntry;
import edu.wpi.first.wpilibj.DataLogManager;

public class DistanceSubsystem extends SubsystemBase {
    private final XRPDistanceSensor distanceSensor = new XRPDistanceSensor();
    private final DoubleLogEntry distanceLog;

    public DistanceSubsystem() {
        DataLog log = DataLogManager.getLog();
        distanceLog = new DoubleLogEntry(log, "/distance/cm");
    }

    @Override
    public void periodic() {
        distanceLog.append(distanceSensor.getDistanceCM());
    }
}

This allows AdvantageScope to visualize the robot’s distance readings over time.

Show students how to plot multiple entries:

• targetAngle
• gyroAngle
• PIDOutput

In AdvantageScope:

1. Add graph panel.
2. Select log entries by name.
3. Adjust scale and smoothing.

• Demonstrate using AdvantageScope live while running commands.
• Encourage students to correlate sensor data with robot motion.
• Use saved logs to review autonomous runs.

• Learn to configure and connect AdvantageScope.
• Record and visualize live robot telemetry.
• Use graphs to refine PID and feedforward control performance.