Should We Program Autonomous For the Y?
 

I can either spend a few hours with the robot on a Sunday and possibly get it working or just go with the straight line.

What do you guys think? Will enough teams be doing autonomous to make the Y reasonable, or should we not bother?

Re: Should We Program Autonomous For the Y?
 

It's really up to you. I mean I know we are not worrying about it just because we know that we are just going to be happy with a working auton.

Re: Should We Program Autonomous For the Y?
 

I would say don't go for the Y as of now. Get a reliable straight autonomous first so you have a means to consistently get points before you get more complicated. It should be fairly possible to have an entire alliance score just by going forward.

Re: Should We Program Autonomous For the Y?
 

I can foresee it being useful for Championships, but for Regionals it is too unlikely that all three of your alliance members will have autonomous that unless you're positive that you can get it consistently and quickly, it might not be worth the effort. Even in Eliminations, with the focus on defensive bots as the 3rd pick, I can't imagine all three will have scoring autonomous.

Re: Should We Program Autonomous For the Y?
 

In the finals at FLR 217 and 2056 hung side by side in a straight line no problem, could have had a 3rd team use a 3rd peg at the far end of the rack no problem (1518 was until they got penalised during auton)

From my POV there is no need to use the Y since theres enough space to have straight line code use adjacent pegs

Re: Should We Program Autonomous For the Y?
 

Wow. Pessimists :)

In all seriousness, I can definitely agree with the sentiment of not wanting to add more on your plate, but if your robot is working (programming wise) then I see no reason not to try if you can.

I would ensure that you keep a copy of the working code set aside for matches, until you get some time on the practice field to verify your code.

If you have other things that need to be done, then obviously you should put those ahead of the Y, since it really probably isn't a big deal as mentioned above.

Good luck,
Matt

Re: Should We Program Autonomous For the Y?
 

Don't forget, Y code will stand out in scouting. of course, if you have working Y code, you are probably not too worried about getting picked...

Re: Should We Program Autonomous For the Y?
 

Hmm, that's a good point. Even if it doesn't matter to the alliance, saying "We can hang anywhere in autonomous!" sounds much more impressive than "Well, we can only score on the outer pegs..."

I guess I'll at least try, especially since I already have something that will theoretically work, the main problem being sensing the Y, and the lack of a great testing area.

Re: Should We Program Autonomous For the Y?
 

Maybe some code that turns the robot when the outer light sensors detect the line but middle doesn't. I don't know what spacing you used.

Re: Should We Program Autonomous For the Y?
 

with experience from a week 1 regional, i can say for sure that you should DEFINITELY do a y autonomous. i believe that there was only 1 team in trenton that had it and everybody was impressed. Even though they weren't seeded high, they were picked for an alliance because it would give the alliance the ability to hang all 3 uber tubes. i say go for it for sure because teams will be way more interested in you. plus autonomous fail stories are fun.
Hope this inspired you:)

Re: Should We Program Autonomous For the Y?
 

In my honest opinion, Y is a little overhyped on the programming side. I didn't think it was very hard to program at all, the hard part was setting the tape at the right angle, which we never really did get done. But it should work, and my team and I will find out during the practice matches/on mock fields.

Re: Should We Program Autonomous For the Y?
 

As we get to the later regionals, and your 2nd regionals, I believe that most teams will have straight auto working, and a "Y" will be a huge advantage.

Week 1 we were 17/18 on the straight, we had a working "Y" but never had the need to actually use it. In the finals we were paired with the Bee's and they needed us to do the straight, as they were putting up two.

I imagine that we will not be paired with another 2 uber team... so the working Y will be a good asset.

After seeing the Bees, our lead mentor said we have to program a 3 uber tube auto, but not change the code at ALL. :)

Re: Should We Program Autonomous For the Y?
 

3 uber tube would be very hard to accomplish using a line tracker. Also 33 relies on encoders, which limits how fast they can accomplish it. I think to accomplish a 3 tube autonomous reliably you would have to incorporate a different strategy. The way I forsaw it was 2 cameras... one front and back.
front looks for pegs, back looks for tubes. With 2 cameras and a rangefinder it is definitely possible... But you would need a sub 3 second cap... which is insanely fast. (separate threads for each mechanism... good 2 speed trans... and a crazy good claw.)

I would focus on the straight line.... get that to 100%. If you get that to 100% on thursday then start thinking about the Y.

Re: Should We Program Autonomous For the Y?
 

You could also just have a kicker instead of an arm xD

It's looking like I'll be able to get to the Y, since we have a practice bot that's doing pretty well.

At the competition, I'll have to calibrate the accelerometers and the PID loops, and then make sure the arm angles are the same.. Lots of work to do :)

Re: Should We Program Autonomous For the Y?
 

how much luck have you had with the accelerometers? How do you use them?

That's one sensor i've been meaning to try out but never have.

If you have the practice bot tracking on the line well, then it would definitely be worth getting the Y working with your practice bot.