Quote:
Originally Posted by bdaroz
Let me ask a rookie team question....
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If you are low-bar capable, one thing you could do is always ask your alliance partners if you can have the low bar spot - it never hurts to ask. And if one of them has a low-bar autonomous that does more than cross (i.e. also scores) then you should consider not running auto that match or else just run a short distance for the 2 point REACH.
Another thing you can try without adding any additional sensors is reading the current from your speed controllers directly from the PDP. Presumably you will see a spike in current as your bot climbs over the defense, then it will level out once it reaches the other side. Just do a moving average of the current over time and stop when you see it going down.
If you can add encoders to one or both sides, then you can better measure distance traveled, and again, averaging over time will give you velocity. When you see the bot speed up after the defense, then shut it down. (of course, this presumes that your wheels don't slip excessively while crossing).
In the future, you might want to consider an ultrasonic sensor (relatively cheap, but prone to signal scatter from the diamond plate walls) or for a little more money, one of the new compact LIDAR units.
Quote:
Originally Posted by alicen
I just wanna touch on this one tiny thing - sometimes you think your auto is right, then it's not. If a student makes a small error, should they be yellow carded immediately for it?
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A Yellow card is meant to be a warning - there is no immediate penalty, but it is a strong incentive to not do it again. Giving an "extra strike" as Greying Jay suggests would be difficult to track unless FIRST goes to a 3 card system.
I am of the school that believes no code should be run on the field unless it has been duly checked out on the practice field, and if that can't be done before a match, then you just have to forego the potential auto points until you can. Of course, there are always things that can go wrong due to unforeseen special circumstances (see 3467's whirling dervish can grabbers from last year), but the Yellow card warning would be a strong incentive to figure out why it happened (as we did) and make sure it never happens again.