Optical sensors getting tricked

[MichaelBick]

Originally Posted by yash101

Programming a consistent robot closed loop can be hard because you need to calculate the motor speed using the hundreds of variables

Not only is PID not required, you do not need hundreds of variables. A bang-bang shooter algorithm is incredibly easy to program(it's an if statement, if your programmers can program the robot to shoot they can program bang bang). Furthermore it only needs an encoder/ir sensor(we used banner sensors) to feed it RPM. As long as you know the speed of the wheel you don't need to account for any other variables.

For position PID is great. Though we haven't used it before, I have heard that limiting the controller to PD or just P is still a pretty darn effective motion controller.

To sum up, sensors don't have to be complicated. Even with complex code(like vision code) teams like 341 have made it much simpler and easier for the rest of us.