Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan Anderson
If you think hybrid mode is less challenging than full autonomous, it sounds like you think teams will be teleoperating their robots using TV clickers instead of joysticks. There might be a few teams who try that, but they'll quickly find that interference and limited range are very big factors.
I believe that teams traditionally known for good automodes should do very well this year.
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I actually don't think that will be what teams do. The reason I find hybrid mode less challenging is because instead of the robot having to do some work and find the trackball itself, the robocoach can tell the robot exactly where the trackball is, with no need for external sensors besides the IR sensor. All that is required of the robot is a few consistent preprogrammed dead reckoning paths to each of the trackball positions, and maybe a bit of dead reckoning around the track after that. This is no where near as complicated as the 2005 autonomous mode where robots had to find the tetras on their own out of 8 positions (which, granted, very few teams accomplished, but it was the first year for the CMU cam). And aside from hybrid mode, the lack of an advantage to semi-autonomous control in the teleoperate mode (unlike 2006 where many robots were successful by aiming completely on their own) seems to me to be another step in the opposite direction. If this is the direction FIRST is going, I definitely don't like it.