First OpMode

This page gets a single motor spinning from the left stick. It assumes you have already installed Synapse. The whole OpMode is one file — copy it into TeamCode/src/main/java/org/firstinspires/ftc/teamcode/ and change the device name if yours is different.

import com.qualcomm.robotcore.eventloop.opmode.TeleOp;
import com.qualcomm.robotcore.hardware.DcMotorEx;
import com.aaravlabs.synapse.Node;
import com.aaravlabs.synapse.Orchestrator;
import com.aaravlabs.synapse.annotation.RunPeriodically;
import com.aaravlabs.synapse.ftc.GamepadAdaptor;
import com.aaravlabs.synapse.ftc.SafeDevice;
import com.aaravlabs.synapse.ftc.SafeOpMode;

@TeleOp(name = "SynapseFirst", group = "Test")
public class SynapseFirst extends SafeOpMode {

    @Override
    protected void onSafeInit() {
        SafeDevice<DcMotorEx> motor = safeMap.device(DcMotorEx.class, "motor");
        orchestrator.registerNode("drive", new DriveNode(orchestrator, motor));
        GamepadAdaptor.attach(orchestrator, gamepad1, "g1");
    }

    public static class DriveNode extends Node {
        DriveNode(Orchestrator orchestrator, SafeDevice<DcMotorEx> motor) {
            super(orchestrator);
            this.motor = motor;
        }
        private final SafeDevice<DcMotorEx> motor;

        @RunPeriodically(hz = 50, hardware = true)
        public void drive() {
            // GamepadAdaptor publishes axes as Float; map to double for setPower.
            double y = -orchestrator.getLatestValue("g1/left_stick_y", Float.class)
                                     .map(Float::doubleValue).orElse(0.0);
            motor.run(m -> m.setPower(y));
        }
    }
}

Push the left stick forward and the motor spins at 50 Hz.

What each line does

1. safeMap.device(DcMotorEx.class, "motor") looks the device up in hardwareMap and wraps it in a SafeDevice<DcMotorEx>. Every call through the wrapper runs on the dedicated hardware thread — never on whatever thread happens to call it.
2. orchestrator.registerNode("drive", ...) binds the node: every annotated method in DriveNode is wired up at this moment. This is why the OpMode calls registerNode — nodes never register themselves.
3. GamepadAdaptor.attach(orchestrator, gamepad1, "g1") publishes every button and axis of gamepad1 onto topics named g1/... at 60 Hz. Left stick Y now lives at g1/left_stick_y as a Float.
4. @RunPeriodically(hz = 50, hardware = true) runs drive() every 20 ms on the hardware thread. The hardware = true flag is what makes touching motors safe — leave it off and the loop would run on the scheduler pool, where hardware calls are forbidden.
5. Inside the loop, orchestrator.getLatestValue(...) reads the most recent axis value without subscribing. orElse(0.0) covers the moments before the first gamepad tick arrives.
6. motor.run(...) submits the setPower call to the hardware thread. Inside a hardware = true loop you are already on that thread, so the call is queued to itself and executes immediately after.

Axes are Float, not Double. GamepadAdaptor publishes the SDK’s float fields, so getLatestValue(name, Float.class) is the correct fetch, and .map(Float::doubleValue) converts for math. Fetching with Double.class silently returns an empty Optional because the types do not match.

Forward is negative. FTC sticks rest at −1 when pushed fully forward, hence the leading minus. Without it the motor would drive backwards.

Nothing moves after pressing Init? Hardware only starts moving after Start — onSafeInit runs at init, but the 50 Hz loop ticks only in loop(). Watch the Driver Station state, not just the log.

Verify the direction

Motor direction depends on wiring. Before driving with real hardware, run a direction test that spins each motor individually from a button — the pattern used on a real robot before the first drive.

Next steps

• Mecanum drive — the full four-motor pattern, robot-validated.
• Architecture — what hardware = true actually does, and what runs where.
• SafeOpMode — all five lifecycle hooks.