Quote:
Originally Posted by davidthefat
Im planning on so that we only need to send a human player and a driver. Yes I am confident that I can make it fully autonomous; the driver is there to manually override the robot if it goes haywire.
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Reaaallly sorry for continuing the OT here and sorry for the long post.
Hey David,
I believe I can safely say that I know where you're coming from with your confidence in achieving a fully autonomous robot, and like some of the CD programmers here, I wish you the best of luck in achieving that.
I've read several of your posts in this previous year and although I haven't seen any of your works personally, you've given me the impression of a very talented person, aside of being a talented programmer. I also assume that you are more experienced in this field, more than in mechanics.
As such a talented and experienced programmer, I'm quite sure you realize that by looking at previous years games and the diversity in the challenges and tasks in most of them, especially from every following year, you can see that it is very difficult to predetermine the challenges your TEAM'S robot will have to go up against. You may predict and prepare, and sometimes that works, but as for automation that is nearly impossible. There are a lot of FRC rules, field parameters and game element parameters and robot parameters and much more that you must take into consideration when forming up your TEAM'S strategy of the autonomous robot. But wait! Now you might know the rules, but you need to define GAME STRATEGY of your TEAM'S robot. Now that should put in some more considerations. Can you define all of the possibilities of different types of strategy-based tactics? Tons! Assuming you can define the solutions and implement them into the robot while in the competitions is very unlikely.
Speaking of parameters, somewhere deep in that huge paragraph i just worte (

), Can you really trust your TEAM'S robot's sensors and their accuracy? What if changes are made to the robot's physical model?
Out of experience (as myself and as observing the work of another talented programmer I personally know), you may have the whole game plan for programming and operating the fully autonomous robot, but there's a huge consideration you need to take in mind.
What if the rest of your TEAM cannot build the robot your TEAM's strategy is based on? What if certain MECHANIC components or ideas just don't work? A lot of time (and that is part of merely 6 WEEKS), and that also means sensor and manipulator calibration time, testing time and correction time (which includes going over the last two again), will be lost if that happens, and, sadly, as the young engineers and fragile humans we are, it happens to us a lot; And as a programmer, it's a real shame to think that you might have had the "ultimate code to rule them all!"...when even in practice you couldn't bring it out in the final product, the TEAM's robot.
I have already experienced in the past 4 years the disappointment when you realize you've written a great code for your robot's mechanical component, but it isn't built until the very last days, and sometimes is just scratched off the final product, and all that code has gone for the season.
Your autonomous robot relies HEAVILY on the REST OF YOUR TEAM to build the other parts of your robot successfully, that is the electrical and mechanical parts. If they can't achieve even the minimum required out of an FRC robot, your code is just virtual for the season, which is the most important period - not the off-season.
Virtual is beautiful and awesome, but reality is much more awesome, more practical and more accepted within the ranks of engineers and scientists in the field future science and engineering.
That was more of a personal statement for you David, and now to the point:
Unless you have 100%, or even 95% assurance you can achieve your goal with all it's prior requirements to achieve it, then go for it. But if you cannot assure it, it's best to lower your goals until you reach that 95-100% area of insurance of success.
Like others said, helping out your drivers, who will need to manually drive the robot in case of a "fully-autonomous emergency", by giving them easier and smoother controls, faster response, simpler manual control methods and more, which are much more achievable and mostly likely to guarantee your TEAM success when driving the robot. Like I've said, you're probably a very talented programmer and can probably think of very creative and useful ways to help out your TEAM in driving the robot, and hey!, maybe even when building it, say for mechanical tests!
...Though on the other hand you do have 8 programmers on your team, which is already too much... :S
Non-the-less, best of luck to you and your team in this year's season, and I hope to hear great stories from your side.
