FRC Robots Aren't Real Robots?

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Caleb Sykes

I think the GDC tried to implement something like this in 2015, and the result was that even fewer teams bothered with autonomous at all.

This year struck a good balance in my opinion. 2 points just for running motors a few seconds, and 3 more bonus points if you could just make it over a defense. I wouldn't mind seeing some form of disincentive for smashing into the opposing alliance wall at full speed though.

My take:

If you don't leave zone X (in the right direction) by the end of auto, -2 points/robot AND temporary disadvantage. If you do leave, +5 points/robot. If you leave in the wrong direction, then that can be discussed later--game-dependent.

The temporary disadvantage would be that for 10 seconds, you are stuck in auto unless you leave the zone (by any means). At 10 seconds or zone exit, you're put into teleop.


That being said, points for running your motors is good, with more points for doing more being better. But I suspect that a mild point penalty for not moving in auto--and a piece of code, from FIRST, that is set up for "move so far"--would provide a large incentive to teams to make sure everybody moves in auto.

[SoftwareBug2.0]

Originally Posted by EricH

My take:

If you don't leave zone X (in the right direction) by the end of auto, -2 points/robot AND temporary disadvantage. If you do leave, +5 points/robot. If you leave in the wrong direction, then that can be discussed later--game-dependent.

The temporary disadvantage would be that for 10 seconds, you are stuck in auto unless you leave the zone (by any means). At 10 seconds or zone exit, you're put into teleop.


That being said, points for running your motors is good, with more points for doing more being better. But I suspect that a mild point penalty for not moving in auto--and a piece of code, from FIRST, that is set up for "move so far"--would provide a large incentive to teams to make sure everybody moves in auto.

I like the way you're thinking. There's some room for creativity in the autonomous mode rules. It's rarely something other than gain a few points for completing easy objectives, more points for hard objectives, and a big penalty if you interfere with the other alliance.

As for the specifics, I like the idea of losing some points, and not just gaining them. In games with the scoring levels we've seen recently, 7 points probably isn't enough though. 2014 had 5 points for driving over a line and a lot of teams didn't do that. My first thought had been to make moving in auto worth like 50 points, but then that might make games where one partner was missing unwinnable from the get go. If instead there was a penalty for robots left in an area the alliance isn't totally hosed.

I also like the idea of a temporary disadvantage. This is something FIRST has done before. In the 2004 game if a certain action didn't happen in auto then gamepieces were held back for a certain number of seconds.

Also, as mathking brings up, there may be some teams that don't do anything for fear of messing things up. One way to reduce this is to eliminate penalties for interfering with the other teams during autonomous.