Successful "Y" in autonomous

[akeisic]

294 line followed straight during the LA quals, but used our Y auto exclusively in the elims to much success. Our alliance put up 3 uber tubes a couple of times. We use 3 line sensors and an ultrasonic to get the distance right.

[HansJ]

We, 3018, can do it in practice, and we will see about doing it in competition this week. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b90TGIKbB80

P.S. The tape is yellow so there is enough contrast between the floor and the tape. We followed successfully at the scrimmage we went to.

Hans

[Chris Nellis]

Team 2537 did the Y at the Washington DC regional a couple times. We bought some extra line sensors to improve reliability

[Mastonevich]

It is great to hear that many other teams did this. A few thoughts based on comments so far:

1. Doing it in practice and doing it in a match are two very different things. We could do it in practice but when we got to competition the black tape coming out of the "Y" on the field forced us to adjust the sensitivity on the sensors.

2. The straight line is definitely easier so the "Y" is not needed in most instances. I think we will see in the last two weeks and at nationals that the teams who can do the middle (using any method really) will shine.

3. The "Y" was pretty difficult. We found that one has to have enough motor power to overcome initial inertia, but not to much power to make the sensors inoperable. We had to find the correct speed for both straight and cornering to make it work. We also found that a fresh battery makes a huge difference.

I would love to more video of this being done successfully.

[beth_hadley]

I'm proud to add team 548 to the list of teams who successfully navigated the Y and posted uber tubes on the top rack in autonomous. We actually exclusively used this mode at our Ann Arbor district on Saturday to test its reliability. Unfortunately during elimination rounds one of our four motors broke and we could no longer navigate the Y - no worries, we followed the line straight and hung the uber tube successfully during our last match.

We follow the line using line sensors and have found the algorithm, once perfected, to be quite reliable. We measure distances using the average of the encoders on left/right motors. We're looking forward to using our autonomous modes to our advantage at the Michigan State tournament and (hopefully) at championships!

Videos will be up soon.