Quote:
Originally Posted by Robby Unruh
Did any other team not use encoders/ultrasonic for their autonomous?
My team only had line sensors, we're counting on timers to do the rest of the work for us (arm).
And if so, how well did the timers work out for your team? Do you think we would have enough time to implement encoders on our robot in the pits?
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In the past we've run autonomous without encoders, the biggest problem we had was that performance (especially for turning) varied on battery charge, so that if we didn't regularly switch out the batteries we'd have issues. As long as your conscious of batteries and keep them charged, there shouldn't be any issues, as long as it worked consistently during testing.
How long would it take to implement encoders? Assuming you plan for it, it should be quick and doable with one or two runs to the practice field.
BEFORE YOU GET THERE
1. If you ave the encoders at your shop and can solder the wires so that you can plug it straight into jags or digital sidecar
2. Figure out where you're mounting the encoders (cimple boxes?) and the gear ratio to the wheels
3. Figure out the diameter of the wheel and the gear ratio between the
4. Using the diameter of the wheel and gear ratio to calculate how many feet you go in one rotation of the encoder
5. Write code using the above equation and P(and possibly ID) to get to your target position (I think starting location is ~19 feet from the driver station)
6. Double check your code.
WHEN YOU GET THERE
1. Attach encoders to robot
2. Wire encoders
3. With robot on blocks check that autonomous behave sanely (have somebody on the Estop)
4. Test on practice field (have somebody on the Estop)
5. Assuming that the behavior was close enough to sane..
6. Continue testing on practice field and matches until it's consistently scoring.
(Similar applies to arm.... might need more math though)
Hopefully that helps, the great thing about sensors is that you can write alot of code ahead of time. Good luck if you go through with using encoders.