Collision avoidance during autonomous

[Andrew Schuetze]

Are any teams planning sense capability for other robots during autonomous

I know we haven't as of yet. We're still working on design ideas and actually hitting the target.

How are teams planning for the possibility that a second or third robot is going to "Aim High" during autonomous? A lot of alliance talk is needed before a match but how do the robots keep from hitting each other?

APS

[mpob]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schuetze

Are any teams planning sense capability for other robots during autonomous

I know we haven't as of yet. We're still working on design ideas and actually hitting the target.

How are teams planning for the possibility that a second or third robot is going to "Aim High" during autonomous? A lot of alliance talk is needed before a match but how do the robots keep from hitting each other?

APS

I have been thinking about this a lot

We are planning on using lots of sensors and hope to develop a collision aviodance system so that we can navigate in autonomous with lots of crashing and still get to the position we want on the field!

I mentored 3 FLL teams this fall, and learned a lot about senors using those mindstorm kits! So I am hoping we can use that knowledge here too!

Great Idea you have there, I hope lots of teams make really cool Autonomous mode robots this year !!!

--Mike

[Alekat]

Originally Posted by mpob

I have been thinking about this a lot

We are planning on using lots of sensors and hope to develop a collision aviodance system so that we can navigate in autonomous with lots of crashing and still get to the position we want on the field!

I mentored 3 FLL teams this fall, and learned a lot about senors using those mindstorm kits! So I am hoping we can use that knowledge here too!

Great Idea you have there, I hope lots of teams make really cool Autonomous mode robots this year !!!

--Mike

I can't picture navigating around just one robot in ten seconds and then scoring, but it would be really cool to juke those defensive auton modes.

[d.courtney]

Our team, myself more specificly, is planing about 3 different autonomous' for the corner goals, 2-3 for the shooting and 3 defencive types, what we use on the feild is depending on our team.

[JamesBrown]

write multiple autonomous modes, the more sensors you use the longer the processor takes to determine a path and shoot, If there are no defensive robots on the other team then just shoot if there are defensive robots then go where ever the robot isnt and shoot from there.

This is a good example of how different parts of your team need to come together at competition. Your scouts need to know what your opponents do in autonomous, your drive team needs to know what your alliance wants to do and what they want you to do. Then the programmer needs to make it happen. THere is not time in between matches to write new code(well not too much new code) so write as much as possible now. if you have 16 modes on your robot (and they all can be downloaded and fit in the robot controller) then you only need 4 switches to pick wich one to use. If you decide against that keep them all one your laptop and put them on right before the match, Label them clearly or even put a picture in each folder with the code so you can remember what it does and show your drive team and alliance partners. In the elimination rounds you may want to be able to show your partners everything you can offer to have the best shot at a win.

[Bill Moore]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schuetze

Are any teams planning sense capability for other robots during autonomous

I know we haven't as of yet. We're still working on design ideas and actually hitting the target.

How are teams planning for the possibility that a second or third robot is going to "Aim High" during autonomous? A lot of alliance talk is needed before a match but how do the robots keep from hitting each other?

APS

You write different autonomous programs to deal with this. Last year, I believe, our autonomous students wrote something like 32 different programs for the robot. We probably only used 3 total during the whole competition season, but we had the others ready, just in case. (i.e., MOEbius could quickly and reliably block the center goal in autonomous last year, in case we went up against some team capable of capping with a vision tetra. Never had to use it though.)

Having so many options in autonomous helps meld your robot into an overall alliance strategy. Each robot should have a minimum of four autonomous options this year: scoring in the right goal, scoring in the left goal, shooting at the center goal, and just sitting still. In past years, with a longer autonomous period, you could delay a bit before your robot moved. I'm not sure you have the luxury of using that strategy this year.

If you want to play aggressively, you can write an autonomous program to go disrupt the other alliance. A bit riskier, since you are initiating contact without control. Hopefully, you don't run into someone elses "roundhouse right" autonomous program.