More advanced Software Ideas..

[asid61]

Originally Posted by Cothron Theiss

Have you tried using gyros to build a drive program that is relative to the field, and not to the robot? What I mean is, if the driver pushes the joystick forward, the robot doesn't just drive forward, the robot drives towards the opposite end of the field, or towards the goal, or whatever target you want it to be.
This would be a drive program for a Swerve drive, or maybe a Maccanum drive.
My team has never done this, but I would LOVE to see a good chassis that was driven relative to the field, not the robot. It would be very easy to drive, and could be a fast and reliable scorer, regardless of the game.

That's called "field-centric" control, and is pretty common with swerve drives. I know 1717 did this when they were around, 16 does both that and "robot-centric" by pressing a button to switch (or used to, anyway). It is a very useful feature, especially for new drivers. Mecanum wheels or an omni-wheel H-drive could be used to start this.

Writing some kind of program for a motor to hold an arm up would be tricky, but a good software project. You would only need a motor, gearbox, encoder, and some kind of off-center mass.