Advantage given by succesful autonomous mode

[PhilBot]

I left our first team discussion thinking that auto mode was HUGELY important.

There are lots of things you can do in auto mode that are usefull.

1) Naturally you can place keepers. To me this is a HUGE advantage, because there are only two ways to guarentee holding a spider as your own... Place a keeper or (oops, nearly gave away a strategy). There will be lots of chaos in a game, and knowing that a certain spider is locked will be a huge asset. Especially if you have several robots with auto modes. Placing three keepers on the same level in a 1 -3- 5 position (under lights) means you only have to fill the gaps to get 32 points.

2) Auto mode is the only time you can get almost excluside access to the rack, so it's you one moment to grab your favorite position

3) If your auto mode is not good enough to place keepers, then be a spoiler.. race down to the other end to prevent the other side from scoring. Or just be ready to grab one of your ringer from that end and bring it back.

Also...

Just because auto mode is short, it doesn't mean you shouldn't be creating automated function in your robot to be used at other times in the game.

Think how hard it's going to be to place a ringer on the other side of the rack, on one of the diagonals (based on poor visibility). We're planning on seveal auto modes that can align with any spider based on known heights and available target lights. You have lots of spare inputs available on the OI, use them.

Imagine being able to run to the opposite end of the filed, turn generally towards the rack and then hit the "Place on top row" button. We did this last year with our shooter.

Think of any actions you are likely to have to do in a hurry, and then automate them.

We had so many auto options in autonomous mode last year, we created a tiny switch that could be plugged directly on the RC. Just before a match we'd just dial up the one we wanted. Just pausing before making a run for goal was a killer strategy.

Here's our Auto-Switch:
http://www.team1629.com/AutoModeSwit...1/Default.aspx