[carrillo694]

For most, I think that perceived lack of use is due to lack of utility.

We felt that the Kinect does not offer enough by way of precise control over the robot. Therefore, we didn't see any advantage it offered over using traditional control techniques during autonomous mode.

Writing a simple routine that drives backwards for an interval of time is easy to do and often effective. Bonus points if you have encoders installed in your drivetrain, so that you can make it distance-based instead of time-based, and if your drivetrain has a strong bias to veer in one direction when it is supposed to drive "straight," then you can use the encoders to correct for that as well by measuring the difference between how far each side of your drivetrain has traveled. Alternatively, you can use a gyro to measure by what angle your drivetrain has changed course and use that error in a control feedback loop like PID.

But chances are you might not have enough time to implement these fancier control techniques. I would try driving your robot backwards for a set time interval, and seeing if that accomplishes what you need for going to the bridge in autonomous. While you are right that this is not the most "robust" solution, have you tried it?