[RyanCahoon]

Originally Posted by 548swimmer

Have you considered trying a sonar sensor to find your distance?
That might not have a narrow enough beam though.

Partially beam size, partially signal loss over distance (these two are related) cause most hobby sonar sensors I've used have an effective range of about 15 ft; I've seen models advertised with greater range, but this is my experience. You also have the problem that with just a distance sensor, you can't tell what you're measuring, so it would be impossible to know whether you're measuring the distance to a field element, another robot, or a game piece. Distance sensors are very useful for measuring proximity, for example, but for ubiquitous absolute positioning on a FIRST field, it seems like you wouldn't have the kind of accuracy I would want. IMHO.

--Ryan