Tuning while the robot runs

For: students who adjust numbers on a running robot. You need: a robot whose mechanisms work, and the PRACTICE profile (the menu stays closed in COMPETITION).

Tuning (PID gains, positions, servo angles, speeds) takes many small changes. Rebuilding and reinstalling for each one takes 2 minutes. The tuning menu changes numbers while the robot runs, from the gamepad.

The workflow

flowchart LR
    A["Mark numbers tunable<br/>Tunable.number(...)<br/>or .tunable(&quot;Lift&quot;)"] --> B["PRACTICE profile<br/>run the OpMode"]
    B --> C["Open the menu (GUIDE)<br/>change, watch, repeat"]
    C --> D["A = save on the hub"]
    D --> E["COPY the final numbers<br/>into the code"]
    E --> F["Y = reset all<br/>(saved values deleted)"]

To FIND a number the first time (servo ends, lift limits, flywheel gains, wheel size, shot table), use the finders: they measure it and show the code line. This menu is for adjusting numbers you already have.

Steps 5 and 6 matter: the code is the record. A value saved only on the hub is lost with a new Control Hub, invisible to teammates, and easy to forget at an event (the INIT screen warns you). B in the menu lists the changed values as lines to copy. A save cannot leave a half-written file: it writes a new file and swaps it in, so a power cut keeps either the old values or the new ones.

With the robot in five files there is nothing to set up: the parts’ numbers and every number in your own sections (like Tunables.Auto) are in the menu already. Always copy a good tuned value back into Tunables.java: the code is the record.

1. Make numbers tunable

The easy way, on mechanisms:

PositionMotor lift = PositionMotor.create(hardwareMap, "lift")
        .pid(0.004, 0, 0.0002, 0.05)
        .position("DOWN", 0).position("HIGH", 2400)
        .tunable("Lift");          // "Lift/kP".."Lift/kF", "Lift/DOWN", "Lift/HIGH"

PositionServo claw = PositionServo.create(hardwareMap, "claw")
        .position("OPEN", 0.2).position("CLOSED", 0.75)
        .tunable("Claw");          // "Claw/OPEN", "Claw/CLOSED"

Any other number. static final makes one Tunable for the whole program, made once (the menu still changes its value):

// (menu name, value in the code, change per D-pad press), kept between 0.1 and 1.0
static final Tunable SLOW_SPEED = Tunable.number("Drive/slow", 0.35, 0.05).range(0.1, 1.0);
...
double speed = slowMode ? SLOW_SPEED.get() : 1.0;     // read it EVERY loop

A PID controller you made yourself: PidTunables.of("Arm", kP, kI, kD, kF).applyTo(pid) every loop.

2. Add the menu to the TeleOp

The menu uses gamepad 1’s D-pad, A, X, Y and bumpers. So give the menu key its own small button list, and pause the driver’s gamepad-1 buttons (and sticks) while the menu is open:

TuningMenu tuning = new TuningMenu(gamepad1);
ControllerBindings menuKey = new ControllerBindings().bindPress(Pad.G1, Btn.GUIDE, tuning::toggle);   // tuning::toggle = run toggle() on press
ControllerBindings driver = new ControllerBindings()...;     // gamepad 1 buttons
ControllerBindings operator = new ControllerBindings()...;   // gamepad 2 buttons (keep working)
boolean menuWasOpen = false;   // was the menu open last loop?
// loop:
menuKey.update(gamepad1, gamepad2);
operator.update(gamepad1, gamepad2);
tuning.update();               // the menu reads gamepad 1 (only while open)
if (tuning.isOpen()) {
    menuWasOpen = true;
    tuning.addTelemetry(t);                                   // and ignore gamepad 1's sticks
} else {
    if (menuWasOpen) driver.ignoreHeldButtons(gamepad1, gamepad2);   // a button held from the menu does not fire
    menuWasOpen = false;
    driver.update(gamepad1, gamepad2);
}

Otherwise pressing Y in the menu (“reset all”) would ALSO do whatever Y does for the driver.

The starter kit’s MainTeleOp already has it.

3. Use it

Button	Does
GUIDE (or whatever you bound)	open / close (a Controls.java TeleOp, after START: hold GUIDE 1 s; a tap shows the button map)
D-pad up / down	choose
D-pad right / left	+/- one step (hold a bumper: x10)
A	save all on the hub
X	the chosen one back to the code value
Y	ALL back to the code values, saved values deleted
B	the changed values as lines to copy into Tunables.java (also in the robot log, tag ftc-helper); B again: the list

Changed values show the code value next to them: Lift/kP = 0.0050 (code 0.004).

Optional: FTC Dashboard (practice only)

Not at events (2026-27 rule R704.D): the game manual bans “additional logging/streaming services, such as those hosted by third party plugins and tools such as FTC Dashboard, FTControl Panels, and others”. Only the Driver Station app may stream telemetry. Use these tools at home and in practice only, and take them out of the robot project before an event (remove or comment out their Gradle lines, then build and install again). The library’s own tuning menu works through the Driver Station, so it is allowed.

FTC Dashboard shows graphs and lets you change public static fields (settings that belong to the class, not to one object) from a laptop browser. Your team used it in 2025-26. It is added in the robot project (not this library): add its Maven repository and dependency (where to download it, and its name and version) to build.dependencies.gradle, then put @Config on a class with public static fields. It works alongside the tuning menu; use whichever is easier for the job (graphs: Dashboard; at the field without a laptop: the menu).