Most... um... "entertaining" autonomous.

[dtengineering]

Okay, there is a poll out there for the best (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=57064) autonomous, which typically means that the robot accomplished what it was SUPPOSED to do... like scoring keepers and stuff like that.

But every now and then something goes just a bit unhinged and... well... the robot gets "creative". We had the pleasure of putting on a show for the opening ceremony crowd at Portland... first weekend... second match of the tournament... that set a high standard for creativity and drama... if not -unfortunately - effectiveness.

Take a look here (http://www.soap.circuitrunners.com/2007/movies/or/or_002.wmv) as we demonstrate mastery of the pirouette. (Thanks, by the way, to our partners (360, I believe) for putting us back into action.)

Then, perhaps, post some links to other auto modes that -- if not effective -- were at least entertaining.

As for the "what the heck"? Well, this is what happens when you don't quite give the programmers enough time to test their code (a well-established tradition amongst many teams, I am sure). We had three sonar sensors on the front of the robot that were to detect the base of the rack and position us to score. Unfortunately the mecanum drive code used PID speed controls running off encoders... and used the user routines timing loop to keep track of time, but that loop was missing in auto. So while the sonar was working (I think... we didn't usually hit anything) the robot had no clue what the wheels were really doing. Or at least that is what the programmers tell me... they had it working pretty good in telop mode, but this was our first real try at full auto. We considered a few fixes, but eventually settled for just driving forward a bit and setting the arm into position to pick up a tube. But if only the "claw" had opened and we had scored this keeper... what a way it would have been to start the year!

Enjoy,

Jason

[Billfred]

Since I saw them on the field at two of their three events, I have to say 342. Not just for the autonomous mode, but their sense of humor about it.

Sure your robot can score, but can it dance?

[Lil' Lavery]

As much as I would like to say it was 116 lodging a tube in the rack in Galileo SF2-1 (http://www.thebluealliance.net/tbatv/match.php?matchid=4334)....
....it HAS to be 340 scoring despite being blocked. (http://media.putfile.com/Newton-Match-66-340-Another-View)

Even though 340s was doing what it was supposed to, it was the most amazing auto maneuver I've seen all year.

[Joe J.]

Or could it be 862 scoring 1114's Keeper?
:cool:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAsgJeGGA5I

[Dan Petrovic]

I found the autonomous mode of this (http://www.thebluealliance.net/tbatv/match.php?matchid=1425) match quite amusing. :D

Who knows why 1189's robot would do something like that?

You kind of have to wait for a while before the match even starts.

[dtengineering]

Wow! Those are some great clips! How 1114 and 862 did that... (the whole match is linked here http://www.thebluealliance.net/tbatv/match.php?matchid=968 ) is well... I'd say it was a fluke, but having had the honour of playing 1114 three times at GTR this year (yeah, ask how much I like that match scheduling algorithm...) I don't think much of what they do is based on luck. That is one skilled team.

And for 340 overcoming the block... wow... that is some solid coding to deal with unexpected interruptions like that.

If anyone wants to see 342 do their dance there is a clip at The Blue Alliance http://www.thebluealliance.net/tbatv/match.php?matchid=573

What I don't see is the drive team... were they dancing along, too?

And big thanks, by the way, to the people who have been cutting and encoding and hosting the video, so that we have the luxury of saying "take a look at THIS". It is a real treat and really appreciated!

Jason

[Nuttyman54]

I would like to nominate 668's "wavy arm dance" from SVR. I don't know which match it was, or if it was even intentional, but it was amazing. I'll try and find on soap if I've got time...

[Dan Richardson]

LoL I have to go with 342, not only because of their crazy spin of death but because that robot packs a lot of bling.

Bling + Spinning = Dizzy Announcers having fun with it.

[danshaffer]

i would like to nominate the joint team 8/1425 from LVR semis. We shook the rack, took off a diamond plate, and 1425's ringer bounced onto the rack. That said, we were on different alliances.

[geeknerd99]

Match 49 (http://www.thebluealliance.net/tbatv/match.php?matchid=165) @ VCU, AKA "Jumping to Hyperspace". I thought we had broken the rack, but I think it came out in better shape than we did.

Note our slapping of the rack with our ramp later in the video. This actually prevented two tubes from being scored.

[Zach Wydick]

i would like to nominate the joint team 8/1425 from LVR semis. We shook the rack, took off a diamond plate, and 1425's ringer bounced onto the rack. That said, we were on different alliances.

I must say that was pretty cool...i was on the field when it happend and i didnt realize how cool it looked til i saw a video recording later

[=Martin=Taylor=]

I don't have a video of it, but in one of our first practice matches in Atlanta our robot "Break Danced." Those who saw it will agree that it was one of the most extraordinary auto-modes of 2007.

Our robot raised its arm to full height and bounced in a circle for 30 seconds - at each moment almost loosing contact with the ground :ahh:!

It was one of the most terrifying sights I have ever seen....

This was NOT supposed to happen, and it resulted from mechanics related turning problems that were later solved with omni-wheels.

[Stephi Rae]

i would like to nominate the joint team 8/1425 from LVR semis. We shook the rack, took off a diamond plate, and 1425's ringer bounced onto the rack. That said, we were on different alliances.

you beat me to it, i was just about to post that but i wanted to find it first. That was pretty much amazing, that ended up being the highest scoring match of the regional, it was pretty exciting! you guys were really great, team 8. and thanks yet again to error code and the poofs! we were cheering for you guys in atlanta! it was almost as much fun as if we had been picked! we hope to see you all again next year!

so ya, that match was semifinal 1 match 2. http://www.thebluealliance.net/tbatv/match.php?matchid=3165

[Qbranch]

Wow is all i can say. :ahh:

-q

[Swampdude]

Lol that first one is good. We had one in the first match of finals at UCF. We accidentally left it in "Kill Mode" which was meant to go across the field and cut across the rack. But we meant to "do nothing" here. So instead it took off in high gear and nearly took out both alliance partners by and inch, but somehow didn't hit anything. This match we discovered our arm was broke from the previous match as well, and had to play some defense.

UCF Final match 1 (http://www.thebluealliance.net/tbatv/match.php?matchid=609)

[Alan Anderson]

Our robot did something "entertaining" during an early match in St. Louis. We had just finished up our drivebase PID tuning, and had a simple "drive forward six inches" mode selected as a final test. Apparently, one of our wheel encoders developed a broken connection, so the software acted as if one side of the robot was nailed to the floor. What we saw on the field was this:

The 'bot deployed the arm, did at least two full turns in one direction while managing not to scrape the gripper against the field boundary, stopped, did it again in the other direction, ran diagonally across the field, barely missing both alliance partners and the rack, then stopped a few inches short of crashing into the field boundary on the other side of where it started -- not intentionally, but because autonomous mode was over.

"Drive forward six inches" had turned into "drive forward enough to measure 6 inches even with one side not moving, turn in place trying to correct the measured yaw error, overshoot because the robot is actually spinning twice as fast as the software thinks, turn in place the other direction trying to correct the overshoot, get the correction right this time because the too-fast turn is compensated by a too-fast correction, then take off at full speed trying to correct the accumulated position error." That was what I eventually decided was going on in the program, anyway.

[Koko Ed]

The most entertaining autonomous of all-time is 229 robot Irrational at FLR last year driving forward and suddenly turning on a dime and firing all of it's balls at Steve.
Comedy gold!

[Roger]

Jason, that certainly is a standard to aspire to. We had a post-hook dance which we kept under wraps until we were sure of our autonomous. Since it was inconsistant (due to the field lights, not to the programming), it will have to stay hidden. Probably all the better. I will keep the video for future study and when the programming crew needs a project.

[IndySam]

Our robot did something "entertaining" during an early match in St. Louis. We had just finished up our drivebase PID tuning, and had a simple "drive forward six inches" mode selected as a final test. Apparently, one of our wheel encoders developed a broken connection, so the software acted as if one side of the robot was nailed to the floor. What we saw on the field was this:

The 'bot deployed the arm, did at least two full turns in one direction while managing not to scrape the gripper against the field boundary, stopped, did it again in the other direction, ran diagonally across the field, barely missing both alliance partners and the rack, then stopped a few inches short of crashing into the field boundary on the other side of where it started -- not intentionally, but because autonomous mode was over.

"Drive forward six inches" had turned into "drive forward enough to measure 6 inches even with one side not moving, turn in place trying to correct the measured yaw error, overshoot because the robot is actually spinning twice as fast as the software thinks, turn in place the other direction trying to correct the overshoot, get the correction right this time because the too-fast turn is compensated by a too-fast correction, then take off at full speed trying to correct the accumulated position error." That was what I eventually decided was going on in the program, anyway.

I like the one you guys did at Purdue better. Andy told me the plan was to go around the rack to the backside but when your robot went screaming into the spider leg at full speed I thought the whole armory shook. What was amazing was that the whole top of the robot didn't come off. Great construction.

[Andy Baker]

I like the one you guys did at Purdue better. Andy told me the plan was to go around the rack to the backside but when your robot went screaming into the spider leg at full speed I thought the whole armory shook. What was amazing was that the whole top of the robot didn't come off. Great construction.


Thanks, Scott...

We had this automode, code named "Back in Black". We would back up, full speed (13 fps), stop, and then look for the light. The plan was to place a tube on our opponent's side of the rack. The only time we would ever plan to use it was if we were opposed from a robot that did not move (would not want to ram them), and our partner was going for the middle column in auto.

So... during one of our Q matches at Boilermaker, our drive team decided to try this. The robot went full speed, backwards, and hit the left side spider legs. The spider legs resisted the impact and tipped the robot over. Either the drive team did not aim the robot correctly, or the robot veered to the right too much while backing up.

The head ref was ticked at us for that one, and said that if our drive team did it again, they would be DQ'ed for field damage.

We did not run that mode ever again, even at the Championships.

I have still not seen a video of that match. If I find one that is digital, I will post a link here.

The unfortunate thing about this was that a reporter from our hometown newspaper just happened to walk in to the arena at this same time as this match. While we explained what exactly happened, and what "automode" was, he could not understand that this was simply an aiming error. In the next day's paper, the writer talked about our mistake in how we wrote the code, and how the drivers should have chosen to drive during this part of the match. He just could not get past this dramatic wreck and didn't understand that we actually meant to send our robot backwards that fast.

AB

[Doug Leppard]

Some pretty funny auto modes, and swamp almost did take us out that one game.

[Alan Anderson]

I like the one you guys did at Purdue better. Andy told me the plan was to go around the rack to the backside but when your robot went screaming into the spider leg at full speed I thought the whole armory shook. What was amazing was that the whole top of the robot didn't come off. Great construction.

That wasn't "entertaining" at all from the team's point of view!

The drive team had never set up the robot for the "Back in Black" mode before, and apparently misunderstood the instructions to put it right next to the field boundary and give the rack plenty of room. I think they tried to aim for a near miss of the rack...and the 'bot failed to miss it. I had also told them it would work best on the right side of the field, but maybe the fact that the robot drives backwards made left and right ambiguous.

We got lucky. The big CIM motor took the hit; if it had been on the other side of the field, the sheet aluminum camera shield would likely have been twisted badly and could even have damaged the pan-tilt assembly. Holding the keeper up at exactly the right height seems to have saved the arm when the 'bot clotheslined itself on the spider leg and took a tumble onto its front. We were amazed to find the gripper had survived with no damage to speak of.

[hipsterjr]

In Florida, 342 didn't have time to finish our tracking program before our next match. So, one of the freshmen said, "hey, just make it do dounuts for now!" Our programer said in a manical way "OK!" With me being the driver, I knew nothing about this till I saw it jump forward and start spinning!:ahh: The announcer called it "342's destracting autonomous dance." After Florida, we made banners and stickers with the "Happy Feet" pieguins and read, "SURE. YOU ROBOT CAN SCORE, BUT CAN IT DANCE?!"

Some rounds, teams would try to ram us in autonomous, but not one could touch our dancing bot.:D

[wendymom]

There was one match in Vegas that Pink had gotten to the rack but they were off by just a bit. The other alliance robot had a defensive mode and they nudged Pink just enough to line them up and allow them to score. It was a beautiful sight to see.

[Mike Ross]

Galileo Match 31
http://www.thebluealliance.net/tbatv/match.php?matchid=4248

Our programmers had given up on getting a scoring auton to work, so they tried to make a defensive one work. The idea was to ram the rack, back up, and repeat. Unfortunately the timing didn't work out too well. As you can see, the only thing that kept us from tipping was our back bumper. Meanwhile, every ThunderChicken in the stands was laughing while the drive team was panicking.

Comedy Gold!:D

[Starke]

....it HAS to be 340 scoring despite being blocked. (http://media.putfile.com/Newton-Match-66-340-Another-View)

Even though 340s was doing what it was supposed to, it was the most amazing auto maneuver I've seen all year.

Thank you for the compliment! We knew that the Auto-Correct feature was good for something! It was quite a site to see! :yikes:

[Doug Leppard]

Galileo Match 31
http://www.thebluealliance.net/tbatv/match.php?matchid=4248

Our programmers had given up on getting a scoring auton to work, so they tried to make a defensive one work. The idea was to ram the rack, back up, and repeat. Unfortunately the timing didn't work out too well. As you can see, the only thing that kept us from tipping was our back bumper. Meanwhile, every ThunderChicken in the stands was laughing while the drive team was panicking.

Comedy Gold!:D

Besides being funny, it had to be down right scarey to watch.

[cire]

Our robot accidently drove in a arc to the other side of the field and just happened to run into our opponents robot that was about to score a ringer... The bot was suposed to drive about 10 feet. Good times.

[Grant Cox]

Edit: you beat me to it Mike D: I have no idea why you guys were laughing, that was quite possibly the scariest 15 seconds of my life.

"hey guys lol we made a new auton, the pwm value is 217 lolol YAY"

[Mike Ross]

There was a match on Galileo (though i can't remember the #), where the robots were enabled for auton while the referees were still on the field shifting the rack.:ahh:
No one was hurt and the robots were stopped, but it was pretty funny watching the refs scatter.

[Lil' Lavery]

There was a match on Galileo (though i can't remember the #), where the robots were enabled for auton while the referees were still on the field shifting the rack.:ahh:
No one was hurt and the robots were stopped, but it was pretty funny watching the refs scatter.

I remember that, it took place some time during the eliminations.

[lukevanoort]

There was a match at Palmetto where it appeared that 386 accidentally left their robot in high gear. Lets just say, that has to be the single most brutal autonomous I've seen. IIRC, first, they slammed into the rack at high speed and then they backed up and slammed into the wall, followed by another slam into the rack, and slam into the wall, and finally then they charged past the rack, and I believe they hit a robot in the last charge, but I'm not certain. It was painful to watch.

[Liz Smith]

There was a match on Galileo (though i can't remember the #), where the robots were enabled for auton while the referees were still on the field shifting the rack.:ahh:
No one was hurt and the robots were stopped, but it was pretty funny watching the refs scatter.

Right.. Reeealllly funny... :rolleyes:

I think it was match 67 on Galileo. It was actually pretty scary considering I was right in the path of 25's robot.. (and when they're in the center position I know their auto mode basically just goes straight for the rack.. right where I was standing). Suddenly we hear the match start sound and turn around to see robots moving. I'm sure you can imagine the certain phrases that went though my head. Lets just put it this way.. I don't ever want to get between 25's robot and a green light again.

[yodameister]

While I was a volunteer at SVR I watched FRC #8's auto. Their arm went up, dropped the keeper and then started to wave with its articulated wrist.

[Duke_of_Hazard]

There was one match in Vegas that Pink had gotten to the rack but they were off by just a bit. The other alliance robot had a defensive mode and they nudged Pink just enough to line them up and allow them to score. It was a beautiful sight to see.

This was Match 54 at LVR (I would link it but SOAP has the auton cut off and blue alliance doesnt have video for that match), and gosh....we watched our robot come out and miss, then 815, what pals, whacked us. I looked at the driver station at that moment and saw an expression of horror mixed with shock.

I can link something else from our season that was un-intended but pretty entertaining. Nowhere near the most entertaining, but I was making this little video anyways so its something to look at...

Match 70 Archimedes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk48U0DXXyk

[Swampdude]

Galileo Match 31
http://www.thebluealliance.net/tbatv/match.php?matchid=4248

Our programmers had given up on getting a scoring auton to work, so they tried to make a defensive one work. The idea was to ram the rack, back up, and repeat. Unfortunately the timing didn't work out too well. As you can see, the only thing that kept us from tipping was our back bumper. Meanwhile, every ThunderChicken in the stands was laughing while the drive team was panicking.

Comedy Gold!:D

Oh that was good!

[Doug Leppard]

This was Match 54 at LVR (I would link it but SOAP has the auton cut off and blue alliance doesnt have video for that match), and gosh....we watched our robot come out and miss, then 815, what pals, whacked us. I looked at the driver station at that moment and saw an expression of horror mixed with shock.

I can link something else from our season that was un-intended but pretty entertaining. Nowhere near the most entertaining, but I was making this little video anyways so its something to look at...

Match 70 Archimedes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk48U0DXXyk

Wow that was great pushing your bot back up.

[wendymom]

This was Match 54 at LVR (I would link it but SOAP has the auton cut off and blue alliance doesnt have video for that match), and gosh....we watched our robot come out and miss, then 815, what pals, whacked us. I looked at the driver station at that moment and saw an expression of horror mixed with shock.

I can link something else from our season that was un-intended but pretty entertaining. Nowhere near the most entertaining, but I was making this little video anyways so its something to look at...

Match 70 Archimedes
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qk48U0DXXyk

Thanks for the proper info.

That clip is great. That was during the VEX closing ceremonies and you could hear everyone watching the ceremonies go......oooooooo no.....while some poor guy was giving a speech.

[EricH]

There was a match on Galileo (though i can't remember the #), where the robots were enabled for auton while the referees were still on the field shifting the rack.:ahh:
No one was hurt and the robots were stopped, but it was pretty funny watching the refs scatter.That happened on Curie, too. I forget the round number, but I seem to remember elims with some bright green on the blue side. One for the blooper reel, I suppose.

[BigJ]

In our first practice match on Curie, our robot did some dancing.

Normally, our autonomous just folds out our 3-stage arm, but the programmers forgot that we left in the camera code we were fidgeting with at the end of Buckeye!

Our camera code starts to spin the robot after 3 seconds of no detection...

So we spun with our arm out for 12 seconds each match. Luckily, the arm got us away from the wall before we started spinning too fast.

The crowd was cheering as our programmers were screaming!

[ldeffenb]

We had one in the first match of finals at UCF.

386 was glad to have stepped into that alliance for the finals at UCF. We ran a freshly-written autonomous that went outside and looked for the light. Unfortunately, we turned into the rack instead of into the rail, so we missed every time.

However, we corrected this and added a retry at Palmetto. The retry was fielded in match Q40 for the first time with rather interesting (and nearly damaging) results.

You can check it out at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8uEfDExUR4

Lynn (D) - Team Voltage 386 Software & Coach

PS. We ended up killing the retry after nearly breaking the 'bot again on the practice field in Atlanta.

[ldeffenb]

There was a match at Palmetto where it appeared that 386 accidentally left their robot in high gear. Lets just say, that has to be the single most brutal autonomous I've seen. It was painful to watch.

Believe it or not, it wasn't an accident but intentional. The robot was supposed to back out beside the rack, turn into the rail, and look for a light. If it didn't see one, it was SUPPOSED to turn, drive, and turn to look again at a 45 degree offset around the rack, but our guesses and turns and distances were a bit (understatement) off.

This autonomous can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8uEfDExUR4

It was painful to stand in the drive station and watch your own robot doing that with software that you're responsible for!

Lynn (D) - Team Voltage 386 Software & Coach