Autonomous Question

[nathanww]

It depends. What Jeff is talking about is something like what we did for Overdrive, where we knew the speed we were traveling, the length of the field, and had a closed-loop steering system. This type of autonomous generall works best for situations where

1. Variables are limited. Since this system can't account for outside influences, anything unanticipated,(like running into something) will cause severe error
2. All the details can be programmed(and tested) ahead of time
3. The maneuver involves few changes in velocity or heading(even assuming no collisions, a small amount of error will accumulate every time you make a change)

Because of this, I would actually recommend aginst this system for a game like this. A figure eight is relativley complicated, and it's likely that you'll hit something at some point, as well as the fact that every time you skid you're going to lose accuracy. I would recommend that you either

1.Pick a simpler manuever and use Jeff's method, or
2.Use a closed-circuit autonomous. You could, for example, use an encoder or accelerometer to measure ground speed and a gyro to measure heading, which would give you all the info that you needed.