[apalrd]

We did a hybrid this year.

-We had enough power to just stay in high gear most of the time.

-We had no gear hunting at any point, due to filtering and hysteresis. The algorithm is very good, and factors in everything we really wanted.

-There are three cases in which we shift:
*We are accelerating at a rate greater than a tuned parameter, the throttles are above ~80%, and we are above a threshold speed (~4 ft/sec) (shift UP)
*We are decelerating rapidly, the throttles are above ~75%, and we are below a threshold speed (~8 ft/sec)(shift DOWN) - This case handles collisions with other robots/defenders where we want to push
*We are below a threshold speed (~2 ft/sec) and the throttles are low (shift DOWN)

-We also look at:
*IF a shift has happened (automatically or manually) in the last 500ms
*The difference between the sticks (We don't want to shift while turning).

We ended up enabling the first case and disabling the second and third. We autoshift up, and the driver toggles a downshift by pressing a button (holding the button locks it in low). We almost never downshift.

With halo/cheesy drive becoming popular, a lot of these cases can be better described without complex logic, as there is less question about if the driver is turning or driving straight. Also, with more power in the drivetrain, the need to shift down to accelerate is almost gone, so the only reason to shift down is to push hard.