Kalman Filters

[nickmagus]

its true i can utilize someone else's implementation but i don't like to do that unless i at least understand their implementation myself. and typically apart from basic framework code (which is a pain) i like to implement code myself (or use code implemented by my teammates) its just hard to properly use code that you don't understand. for example i was looking at the code for an old robot fixing it up and i found the PID loop was adding the D term to the output which is exactly the opposite of what you want so i like to at least understand the basics (including the basic math) behind the code i write. Anyone can use someone else's algorithms but if they don't try to understand them they get nothing from it. so when i wrote a auto tune loop for a PID earlier this year based on zigler-nicoles it was only after reading an entire text book from a cal tech course (which was fascinating and free btw i recommend it http://www.cds.caltech.edu/~murray/a...itle=Main_Page)

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by nickmagus

its true i can utilize someone else's implementation but i don't like to do that unless i at least understand their implementation myself. ...

OK, so you like the beautiful details. I do too.

BTW, the former FRC 931 college mentor that I mentioned above is Brandon Heller. He is a PhD student at Stanford now. I think he also was one of the mentors for FRC 8 (your team) last year.

As Sam mentioned a couple of posts up, Kalman filters are good for much more than just figuring out which way is up (whatever your frame of reference). Your exploration of the details might lead to applications beyond balancing an inverted pendulum, and one of those might find its way onto your team's next robot. Have fun with it.

[nickmagus]

ya he was a mentor of ours last year. Im not sure of his status this year but thanks i'll ask him about it. but first for research into the beautiful details and some other concepts in control theory, beyond what i already know. thanks all for your help and support.