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Unread 30-07-2015, 07:38
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FTC #5237 (Loose Screws)
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Join Date: Feb 2015
Rookie Year: 2004
Location: Bedford
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Re: Driver Assistance Used This Season?

Quote:
Originally Posted by rainbowbear998 View Post
As FTC is coming up, my team and I have been discussing methods of driver assistance that we could use for it. I've been wondering, what did other teams use for driver assistance this season or even in past seasons?
One thing I would reccommend is using LED lights. Not just because they are cool, but because you can use them along side a manipulator to assure that it's in the right position.

For example, in Cascade Effect we had a Rolling Goal latch that would hook onto the Rolling Goal to drag it behind us. The only problem was that it would only work in one orientation of the goal. It was also on the back of our robot, and the goals were on the other side of the field when we grabbed them. This made a successful latch very hard to achieve, and usually wasted time. We could have added a limit switch wired to LEDs that would light up when it was in the correct position, thus eliminating all guesswork.

My FRC team that I graduated from has used this setup for the last few years. They had limit switches on their catapult to make sure the ball was in the correct position, and limit switches in their intake to make sure the totes would stack neatly on top of each other.

I would highly recommend using LEDs and limit switches to eliminate guesswork on your drivers' behalf. I know my team has been wanting LEDs for a while now, and this is a practical way to use them.
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