View Full Version : Follow up: How is your auton?
Rickertsen2
22-02-2005, 19:48
Now that the build is over, what state is your autonomous in?
Goobergunch
22-02-2005, 20:08
I've written some dead-reckoning code to grab a hanging tetra in autonomous. Unfortunately, I haven't been able to test it because we "finished" the robot only a few hours before shipping. I guess that's what Thursday is for. ;)
you forgot that some teams will got o loading zones in auto mode.
Chris Fultz
22-02-2005, 20:39
I am a bit disappointed in our auto mode.
We are able to get ONE of the vision tetras, place it on the middle goal, then find the second one and get it picked up, but we can only score it on one of the side goals. We don't have time to drive back to the center and get it onto the higher center goal.
I think we need to recruit a new programming team.
;) ;) ;) ;)
ps - just kidding / we really can't get to the side goal with the second tetra ;)
ps again - really just kidding / I don't know what our AUTO mode does, I fell asleep in the workroom about 3 AM, and didn't wake up until the FEDEX truck was pulling away.
neilsonster
22-02-2005, 20:40
At this point we can pick up vision tetras and go towards goals, but the robot shipped before I could test the capping. I will likely have the alternate program to knock down side-goal tetras done within the next couple days (although it will have no testing on the robot till Rochester next week). We'll see if I decide to do any more :D.
amateurrobotguy
22-02-2005, 20:56
Our bot just goes straight and we pray that we are a nuisance to some other autonomous robot :)
scitobor 617
22-02-2005, 20:57
I have written an Autonomous program that will get a tetra from the auto loader and place it on a small goal, then attempt to get another tetra from the auto loader and do it again. Six weeks worth of great code that has never been tested, I hope there are not too many bugs in my code. I only had time to make sure that the Hall Effects sensors were actually working and my distance calculation was not totally useless. But, if my code turns out to be as bug filled as IE6 then I will have to write a not so elegant Auton mode to knock down a hanging tetra, rev our cooling fan, and flash the feedback lights feverishly. :D
we go "wheeeeeeeee!"--roundy round in circles....
not really. What the code's supposed to do is knock off a hanging tetra, then turn and head over to the human loading platform to receive a tetra at the end of the autonomous mode.
unfortunately, testing has been sporadic, and the latest 'fix' i added to the code to rework it never got tested. so... everything's up in the air as to whether it actually accomplishes everything it's supposed to. but i guess we'll find that out at regionals, won't we? :D
Until then... this kat's gonna catch up on some LONG-overdue sleep.
'Night all!
~kat
My test robot (using a frame with broken welds) was able to track green and yellow a few weeks ago.
My actual robot is able to grab tetras, assuming the pots are calibrated.
My robot should be able to drop the tetra onto a goal, assuming the code fits together and the arm doesn't drop the tetra.
The combination of all of this has not been tested because I was only testing this at intervals when the build members weren't building the robot.
My team messed around with the pots on my robot's arm two hours before shipping, depriving me of my needed testing time while probably breaking the calibration of the pots. So I am probably not going to do very well on autonomous mode... buit I'll see on Thursday.
I can at least modify with code until then, hopefully making it more likely to work....
I'm sure that many teams are in a similar situation.
At least the driving straight code works to some extent!
Anthony Kesich
23-02-2005, 01:12
If everything goes as planned, this programmer here is going to write a simple autonomous tonday, tomorrow, thursday, and at reagionals to start off with a tetra, cap a corner goal, and knock down a tetra. This is what happens when I only get 2 hours with the bot, and one of which is done creating our drive-by-wire control (which, if I do say so myself, is spiffy and makes driving so much easier. Yaa. Go stock Hall Effects Sensors). Anywho, heres to a lot of praying and guessing numbers!
-Tony K
thoughtful
23-02-2005, 01:27
We had a good programming team this year. We can cap the center goal and the side goal with 90% efficeincy. It takes us about 8 seconds to cap center and about 7 to cap the goal behind.
We also can go and mess us a robot tht has vision capatilities, imagine us driving right into you guys, over and over again in autonomous, no capping for you :p .
Ryan Cumings
23-02-2005, 01:34
Due to unfortunate mishap with the programming USB->Serial cable (Sabotage by drivering team needing practice?) we had to stop dead short of working perfectly. I'm guessing a late thursday night at the regional.
due to slow construction team, school bureaucracy, and fedex not being nice we werent able to test our autonomous codes, so they might work, but most probably not.
After reading these responses I'm feeling better (though not much) about the state of our autonomous modes. We've got 9 unique autonomous modes, switchable depending on which side of the field we're on, but they have never been tested! While we were strapping our robot into the crate yesterday we still had others continuing assembly, so the only autonomous mode that we know works 100% is the one that tells it to sit and do nothing--we can do that reliably. :)
tiffany34990
23-02-2005, 10:03
well--suppose to have it--um dunno-- i have never seen it--it'll be an interesting thursday as usual--perhaps we'll get it perfect before nationals-hee hee ;)
Dave Flowerday
23-02-2005, 10:36
imagine us driving right into you guys, over and over again in autonomous, no capping for you :p .
Imagine you getting disqualified:
Q: If a team moves to the opposite end of the field in autonomous mode and starts "zooming" back and forth across the field, obviously to disrupt opposing robot's autonomous mode, can they be DQ'd for high speed ramming per <G25>?
A: <G25> applies in all modes. If your robot is traveling at high speed during autonomous mode and rams another robot, it is very possible that you would be disqualified, although the decision will depend on the particular situation and is at the discretion of the head referee.
nehalita
23-02-2005, 10:49
wow, i feel better after reading this thread, too. we tried the camera thing but it didn't work out...seeing as we only have one programmer and she only knew JAVA, we discarded the camera and worked with what we had.
only problem is this programmer has not seen the auto code actually WORK, the one day it was tested was the day she had a tennis game.... so we'll see on thursday won't we? x.x' anticipation....
CyberWolf_22
23-02-2005, 10:59
Our Auton is pretty much untested because I did not get our robot until Monday at about 5:30 then the mechanical team took it back again at about 6:30. This is not much different then any other year so hopefully it will all come together during the practice day. I know we will be able to knock off the hanging tetra and move to get in front of another robot. I am hopping we will be able to take a tetra from the automated loading station as well.
Chriszuma
23-02-2005, 14:07
I'm kind of the programmer's assistant. That is, I don't really do much with the code besides working out the occasional algorithm. Programming our autonomous was a wee bit impossible since we didn't get a finished robot until a few hours before we put 'er in a big box addressed to Ypsilanti.
We should be able to track down the green tetra, which we tested successfully with the kit chassis (before they ripped the motors out for the real bot). Past that, we might be able to pick it up, but we don't really have any code for going to the center goal. I worked out the geometry for position tracking using the hall-effects, but I don't know if Mike ever got around to coding it in (I left about 12 hours before he did because i got some influenza).
slickguy2007
23-02-2005, 14:14
We can do pretty much anything we want..... 1403 is going for 2 vision tetras during autonomous mode.....
GO 1403!!!
JamesBrown
23-02-2005, 14:22
we can knock over the hanging tetras and can sit in place hopefully we will also be able to block the center goal before UTC
jazzsaxman1988
23-02-2005, 21:06
Pretty much I'm in the same situation you guys are, but I took some measurements to see how our bot handles, and I'm going to dead-reckon code to cap the center goal, then hopefully at least pick up a vision tetra... the problem I'm having though is that our arm is so slow raising that I only have time to cap once... kinda frustrating, but oh well..
Fourevilmonkies
23-02-2005, 21:33
Mmm I got me team an awesome autonomus mode programed... Sit around and look pretty... Man oh man... I love those magnetic sensors so much I pulled a Lenny on one of em *yes this is a "of Mice and Men" reference*. Qutie posibly I will not be the only one working on the code like I have been for the entire 6 weeks. Maybe we may even make our robot fly... But yes our plan is to sit and look pretty and if you have seen our spoiler pic we are not very pretty at all.
Our auton is horrible, all we can do is cap middle goal from center position and cap the near middle goal from the side positions. And at pittsburgh I can copy paste it and get us capping near side goals from side positions...
I really dont like how it turned out but everyone else is all like, "its fine, and its only your rookie year" but they are just being polite...
At least I can take some consolation in that this is more then most ppl can do lol :p
Brandon Holley
23-02-2005, 22:15
Our robot can find the tetra and pick it up. As far as capping it onto a goal, that is what Thursday is all about. We also are making a simple program to knock off the hanging tetra and possibly move to a loading station. I hope that teams can succeed in their auto mode programming. It could cause a big swing in the game.
P.S. - My 100th post ^___^
Damian Manda
24-02-2005, 01:27
We have lots of code written for each side starting and center and side goal placement. However, we found that it takes our robot about 9 seconds to lift a tetra to placement height (leaving only 6 seconds to find and aquire and later drop the tetra), so when it came time to test, we only wrote routines to knock the hanging tetra and drive forward, no other placement.
thoughtful
24-02-2005, 01:42
Imagine you getting disqualified:
I never said at high speeds :p , Mostly it does a U at a pretty slow speed. Not too slow though. However, i am sure there will be teams that can correct the pushing/bumps through encoders and gyro. We can our selves account for bumps.
I meant that post as a joke. We would never want to bump into anyone at a high speed, autonomous or no autonomous. Its just not GP. We are rarely going to use that autonomous mode, probably in the play-offs when the allaince has 3 working autonmous modes.
I have a question though, would you guys rather wait till the end (of the autonomus) to drop the tetra or at the earliest moment possible to avoid any bumps. I was thinking that i would want to drop at the last possible second so that we come out owning the goal out of autonomous.
NotQuiteFree
24-02-2005, 02:35
We can knock down the hanging tetra 99.999% of the time, and then we go and find a tetra on the field somewhere. Unfortunately, our arm/robot isn't fast enough to pick it up and set it on a goal, even if that is the first thing we do. It just takes longer than the time we have. :( Oh well, pick your battles. :p
Kris Verdeyen
24-02-2005, 09:14
... We would never want to bump into anyone at a high speed, autonomous or no autonomous. Its just not GP....
It has nothing to do with GP or non-GP, it's just against the rules. It's no more graciously professional to avoid running into someone than it is to build a robot that starts within 28"x38"x60" - it's just the rules. If it were a different game, with different rules (as it has been in years past) then it would be perfectly acceptable to ram into someone at high speeds. It all depends on the context of the game.
That said, and back on topic, our autonomous can (at least) cap a goal with the born tetra and knock down the hanger.
Alan Anderson
24-02-2005, 09:53
I have a question though, would you guys rather wait till the end (of the autonomus) to drop the tetra or at the earliest moment possible to avoid any bumps. I was thinking that i would want to drop at the last possible second so that we come out owning the goal out of autonomous.
Consider that the only thing that matters during autonomous is getting the vision tetra stacked. Owning a goal doesn't confer any special bonus at the end of autonomous. I suggest that the best choice is to get there quickly to avoid being interfered with. You can always retake the goal later if you want to.
We had a lot of trouble making our autonomous work and we did not have much time to test.
But we have a GUI program that can create the code so that our autonomous mode can be easily changed.
We can cap a goal with the born tetra.
We had some trouble with the mechanics guys, they told us that the Encoders would never spin at more then 300 RPM, but they were wrong and told us that before all of our encoders were not working anymore, and since we live in Brazil we couldn't buy and find any other Encoders, so we're using the Hall Effect sensors to replace our encoder. It helps, but it's not as good as the Encoder :(
ldeffenb
28-02-2005, 03:14
Our autonomous can locate, drive to, pick up, and deliver to the center goal several of the vision tetras (one per match, unfortunately) and do it semi-reliably within the 15 seconds.
If you drop an e-mail to ldeffenb@yahoo.com, I'll send you back a .torrent file that will provide a pair of short video clips proving said claims.
Lynn (D) - Team Voltage 386 Software
PS. For a BitTorrent client, see www.BitTorrent.com or www.BitTornado.com (Windoze).
I am the only programmer on my team. I came in 2 weeks before the shipping date. We don't have any encoders, sensors, or anything. It is all dead reckoning.
I got the code to knock the tetra down and then just sit there. I decided not to even bother with grabbing the vision tetra because it's almost impossible for our bot to pick a tetra up off the ground...
Ours operates in 4 modes:
1: Knock left tetra down
2: Knock right tetra down
3: Fly to distance == 2nd autoloader, and deploy
4: Cap any goal we please
5: Do nothing
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