crazy idea for autonomous
 

here is one of the craziest ideas you will ever hear:

how about instead of having autonomous play in the beginning of the match, they have it right in the middle! the drivers would set the program before the start of the match. they would have to make sure that they are in a good area when the autonomous mode starts. after automomous mode the drivers would regain control for the remaining part of the match. now THAT would be exciting!
there will be robots that have dead reckoning modes where they need to be in a certain spot when the mode starts. there will be bots with sensors to detect field features and play by program variables. there will be suicide bot who try to ruin the autonomous modes of dead reckoning bots by pushing them out of position or blocking their set path. there will be bots that attempt to confuse robots with sensors. this would be a great concept for using in the future. it would mean intense cooperation and planning between the drivers and programmers using incredible, complex strategies. those few moments before the autonomous would be a key factor and include some of the fiercest competition that FIRST has ever seen! of course, the building period would probably need to be extended if this idea were used, but can anyone even imagine the action and chaos that this would create?

If FIRST asks for ideas again i am going to submit this

so... teams would be hitting each other more?...

Seeing as how most teams couldn't get a good autonomous mdoe to work even with dead reckoning while knowing where they'd be, it seems improbably FIRST would let robots control themselves midway into the game.

Don't discount the possibility, though. I forsee a mid-game or end-game autonomous mode sometime within the next 5 years. You can quote me on that. It will happen some time. Probably not next year, but I guarantee FIRST will work to make autonomous mode more important, and using it for more than just the opening move will be a new, fresh challenge.

robots could use the absence of a good autonomous mode in their strategy. they could position themselves to block other robots from performing their autonomous modes correctly.

some of you had posted that having the autonomous mode in the middle of the game would be too hard for starting teams. i think that teams without good autonomous modes could do a lot during the autonomous period when positioned right. robots could trap a robot with a great autonomous mode in a corner of the field and totally block them off. they could also make a simple program like going in a straight line or doing a certain action. as long as they are positioned right by the driver they will do fine.

i know this idea has some faults, but we can probably work them all out right here on the site.

I think middle would be the best because it would throw another variable to wreck a score, but it would also give the opportunity to repair the score. Where as at the end it would screw a score or people would not really have a lot to do depending on what they did during the match.

reply/another idea
 

i was thinking the same thing when i chose the middle. it would be kindof like the wall this year. whoever got the wall had a tremendous advantage in the match, but the other teams could still come back and win.

actually, i just had another idea. how about instead of just scoring points for robot position at the end of the match, points are also awarded for position at the end of autonomous. that would really spice things up. it would make things more fair for new teams, they could go to a scoring spot before autonomous, not move anywhere, and then score points for doing it. this would throw in a whole new batch of aspects to the strategy. should robots try to manipulate scoring objects, get positioning points, or really take a gamble and try to do both!?

Having auton mode at the end of the match would be the most interesting and most exciting - after you have done all you can, its all up to the robot for the last part

and all you can do is stand there and watch

[and scream!]

that would be fun

Strategies were too complex this year as it was. I mean, there was a lot of great ideas for strategy, but they were impractical; it proved to be a lot simpler than making stacks and protecting them. Descoring and other such strategies were seen in some matches, but not all that many. I think what you'd end up with is either a great success or a flop. And it's more likely to be a flop.

Envision: teams have to make auton programs for the middle of the match. They have no clue how to use sensors, have no clue where they'll be, don't want to get DQed for anything. Other teams don't know what the situation will be like. So what's the safest bet? Don't move. At all.

There's a good number of bots out there that if they screwed up, they could definitely cause some damage to the field. And if teams don't know what'll happen before auton mode, then it's hard to plan for it.

It's too complicated for my tastes. Great idea, but I don't think it will work in practice.

Instead, let's have a game that concentrates less on brute force and speed, but instead on dexterity. This will eliminate the problem of 'the team with the faster points in auton will win' scenario.

Just my $0.02 (probably worth less, due to the failing economy in my head).

Yes, that is crazy...

if a game like this were made, the field would be made sturdier and safer. FIRST would make sure nothing could go terribly wrong. you do have some good points though.

here are two changes i make to my original idea:

#1: the autonomous mode could be switched over and over until when the autonomy starts. this would help prevent robots from going crazy. if this were done there might have to be a limit on the number of autonomous modes a bot has to choose from.

#2: the drivers would have a kill switch that could be pressed at any time during the autonomous mode. this could also be incorporated into the strategy

Auto mode should start at the end of the match....

I would like to see the robots programing decide who wins the match not the drivers....

hehehe

the idea of an autonomous mode is nice, but once again, the problem is lack of good programming language and lack of variable space. yeah, if i had a desktop PC controlling the robot through C++, yeah, i could probably write almost any autonomous program. what we have is a tiny chip, running PBASIC, with what, 26 (i've forgotten already in an attempt to hope that we'll use something better next year :-p) bytes of variable space.

while i wouldn't love a mid/end game autonomous mode, i would hate it if we had to do it with our current equipment. of course, if we have one next year, not like i have much of a choice to do it, but i can at least hope :).

?

Find me ONE thing that you want to do in 15 seconds of autonomous mode that cannot be done with 26 bytes of variables...especially when using multiple slot programming.