[Team 288]

Originally Posted by Tom Line

Wouldn't you have been able to count the revolutions in code and make it work that way? I would wager that is what Andy Mark expected you to do.

It's not all that different from needing a scaling factor for your drive encoders or for any other sensor. I understand it would be more convenient if one revolution of the module = one revolution of the encoder, but having one revolution of the module be more than 1 revolution of the encoder actually makes your measurement system more accurate.

Yes, there was an option to fix the problem with programming. This was not an ideal solution because this would mean 3.3 rotations of the sensor per wheel revolution. This means that you would not be able to "zero" the wheels automatically on power up. You would have to put the robot on the field with the wheels pinned and then turn on the power so that the robot knows the exact position of the wheels. If you ever had a power loss during a match you'd be in trouble because your wheel positions would likely be messed up.

AndyMark did not mean for it to be that way. I spoke with Danny Blau from AndyMark before ordering the absolute sensors and he explained in detail the way they were "meant" to work. They were intended to be ABSOLUTE, meaning you always know the wheel position.