[skimoose]

The main problem I see with Auton is the lack of true plug and play sensors and software. This years KOP sensor pack is a great start. What it needs now is simple bolt-on software routines. After all, we want students, not professionals, programming. Our team doesn't have a dedicated software mentor, so it becomes very difficult to get the students working on their own while we're busying with other tasks. EasyC might be the answer, but we didn't have time to investigate it this year.

I think a more useful software option for MPLabs would be more thoroughly commented form of bolt-in software routines, not entire work spaces. Kevin's code was good this year, but the students had trouble integrating his camera code with some of his sensor code by themselves. Any software and sensors should be presented in such a way that students can pick them up and start using them with very little guidance, including students with limited programming experience. Most commercial software packages, like AutoCad, Inventor, Word, etc, have GUI interfaces which make them much more intuitive for novice users.

The mechanical side of the game has become fairly balanced, now its time to start to balance the programming side. Without some improvements here, Auton will continue to be an unbalanced part of the game, not just for rookie teams, but for teams without a lot of programming help, too.