[gblake]

I'm assuming that when you talk about controlling robot actions, you mean something more sophisticated than simple things like driving in a straight line, and are instead talking about having the robot play the game autonomously.

You shouldn't need anything more than hand coded top-level algorithms for FRC autonomous, although it's possible to use machine learning sorts of results to make modest improvements, I think that for anything non-trivial (see my first paragraph) the cost outweighs the benefits.

Attempting to automate the driver-control part of the match has come up before. Read those threads.

I think the consensus is that attempting it is an excellent learning exercise, but that it's unlikely to bear fruit quickly.

Also any algorithm that you might put in charge of your bot will only be able to react to what it senses. You have to possess a robot with the right sensors before you can automate it's behavior.

However(here is where the glass becomes half full), if you start by learning to control a simulated robot...
1) You can figure out what sensors you would need/want on a real robot, and
2) You can learn how to choose and train/tune an algorithm that would have a good chance of being successful in a real robot, and
3) Safely operating, modifying and repairing dozens of simulated bots is waaaay easier than doing the same with real bots.

So... I suggest starting with a simulator.

Blake