Making sure EVERY Team can do Auto

[EdWard3637]

Autonomous Modes by importance

1. Drive Forward enough to move robot and game piece into Auto Zone, back up from game piece
2. Each Robot Place a Yellow Tote on landmark at T=5, T=8, and T=11
3. Each robot place a container in the auto zone, other designated robot drive back and use vision tracking to stack yellow totes and place in auto zone

[Thorn]

Grey totes are worth 2 points, so moving some grey totes around in autonomous is not a good use of time. Most teams should be able to at least get their robots to just drive forward into the auto zone; this is not much different than the minimal auto points from last year.

What makes this challenge really interesting is the stacking. If one robot moves a crate to the autozone, how does another robot find it, and then orient itself the correct way to place the next tote on top of it? The vision target is on one side, but the crate may have been placed down at an angle. Plus we need to avoid hitting each other. My team plans to write a few different programs and then decide which one to run at match time. (You can quickly ftp in to change a config file; the new RoboRio can re-deploy code without rebooting so it only takes 10-15 seconds to upload a change)

I really wish they gave some points for two crates stacked in autonomous. But it's all or nothing. Either all 3 are stacked for 20 points, or they just count as being moved into the zone for 8 points. That's a huge difference.

Is stacking three totes going to be like catching last year? It's theoretically possible, but no one actually does it during a match.

[Caleb Sykes]

Originally Posted by Thorn

Is stacking three totes going to be like catching last year? It's theoretically possible, but no one actually does it during a match.

I think it will be much more like a 3-ball auto from last year. It is theoretically possible, but you will be able to count on your fingers the teams that can do it well consistently.

[Whippet]

Originally Posted by Caleb Sykes

I think it will be much more like a 3-ball auto from last year. It is theoretically possible, but you will be able to count on your fingers the teams that can do it well consistently.

You have ≥ 254 fingers?!?

[Tammyo]

If one of your alliance members during competition does not have a autonomous, what would be your plan of action?

[x86_4819]

Either use a robot that can score a full set of game pieces, or push them with another robot so that you get the robot set at minimum.

[IronicDeadBird]

Originally Posted by JohnFogarty

I hope everyone has read this with the same thought in mind I have. It's now even more crucial to your alliance's auto score that you make sure every partner you have can at least at a minimum move into the auto zone. Otherwise you won't get even the minimum robot set points.

What if a team didn't want to end in the Auto zone?

[Gregor]

Originally Posted by IronicDeadBird

What if a team didn't want to end in the Auto zone?

Then they would be doing it wrong.

[Caleb Sykes]

Originally Posted by Gregor

Then they would be doing it wrong.

That depends. I can imagine good reasons not to end in the auto zone that could potentially net your alliance greater than 4 points in the long run.

[nighterfighter]

Originally Posted by Tammyo

If one of your alliance members during competition does not have a autonomous, what would be your plan of action?

Quickly write the code to move them into the auto-zone, test it, then use it?

It is maybe a maximum of 6 lines in C++/Java, not sure about LabView.

The alternative is to just get an alliance member to push them into the auto-zone.

[dodar]

Originally Posted by Caleb Sykes

That depends. I can imagine good reasons not to end in the auto zone that could potentially net your alliance greater than 4 points in the long run.

Unless that entails that robot grabbing all 4 midfield bins, they should end in the auto zone.

[JohnFogarty]

Originally Posted by Tammyo

If one of your alliance members during competition does not have a autonomous, what would be your plan of action?

Our programming team is being taught how to program at a general level for all three languages that teams can use to program their bot. We will have some easy to implement software written readily available should a team need an autonomous before a match. We have a large enough programming squad that should we be given enough time, we could assist teams on the practice day if need be so that everyone that we possibly can help can benefit from our work.

[nighterfighter]

Originally Posted by dodar

Unless that entails that robot grabbing all 4 midfield bins, they should end in the auto zone.

Even grabbing just one or two recycling containers has enough scoring potential to be worth not ending in the auto-zone.

[IronicDeadBird]

Originally Posted by Gregor

Then they would be doing it wrong.

I dunno man 20 points seems trivial in this game. Maybe at lower levels but I have enough faith in the students who participate in FRC that we are going to see some pretty interesting openings.

I should clarify that unless you go for all auto points then this years opening game seems kinda like filler.

[dodar]

Originally Posted by nighterfighter

Even grabbing just one or two recycling containers has enough scoring potential to be worth not ending in the auto-zone.

If you are gonna grab 2, why arent you programming to bring them into the auto zone?