Start timing and details

[dwc309]

1. Are the robot controls enabled until autonomous begins?

2. Does the robot have to be driven into the competition arena or is it carried?

3. Is any reset issued by the competition referees or can it be initialized by by the programming port?

4. If not, could it be initialized prior to bringing it into the competition?

[Adam Richards]

Originally Posted by dwc309

1. Are the robot controls enabled until autonomous begins?

2. Does the robot have to be driven into the competition arena or is it carried?

3. Is any reset issued by the competition referees or can it be initialized by by the programming port?

4. If not, could it be initialized prior to bringing it into the competition?

1. No, they're disabled.

2. It is carried.

3. The competition control should reset your robot at the start of the round.

[steven114]

Not exactly true - if you have switches (such as dip switches) you can set them before autonomous mode. While your robot is sitting disabled on the field, you can read in the states and save them. Durning autonomous mode they will read as all disabled, but you can refer to the saved state and make decisions. We used this to select between autonomous modes. They were numbered from zero to fifteen, and you would poke in the right value onto a bank of four dip switches. Before the match, the controller would read them in and store them. During autonomous, it would then change programs based on what we had chosen.

[Alan Anderson]

Sorry, Adam Richards, but you're wrong on a couple of things.

1. The robot controls are enabled. The robot outputs are disabled, but the program receives input from the OI up until autonomous mode is activated.

2. Teams carry their robots onto the field, typically setting them in place and applying power as the driver and/or operator sets the controls on the alliance station shelf. I don't know of any teams that drive to the field; most if not all have a cart.

3. I don't think the refs can cause a reset, though they can certainly disable a robot. The "robot reset" button on the OI will reset the robot if you want. You can't do a reset via the programming port in any case.

4. Usually a robot is powered off until it's brought onto the field. You may do a reset at any time before you leave it there prior to the match beginning.

[dwc309]

Thanks to everyone for their replies.