Automous Programming

[Greg McKaskle]

We can't tell what the polarity of your motors are or how they are mounted and geared. But your first loop is doing the same as moving one joystick forward and the other backwards. The second loop moves them both backwards. It may seem odd that pushing the joystick forward is negative numbers, but that is the way that HID devices are defined, and that was the standard chosen for the joystick library.

So my prediction is that the robot increases the spin speed for eight seconds, then sets the motors to slow backward and increases speed backwards for eight seconds.

Another thing to think about is how the robot drives using the joystick. After four seconds, your loop will effectively have the joysticks maxed out. Does that match what your human driver would do? It seems like you may want to try a smaller increment so that you wind up at the same point as the human driver.

To clean up the code a bit in readability, you can right click on the outer case and Remove the case. You can also do that to the sequence structure. You can right click on the output tunnels on the first for loop and disable the auto-indexing.

Greg McKaskle

[EricVanWyk]

I strongly recommend making your code clearer by using the Arcade Mode VI during autonomous. It is easier to understand and code for (IMHO). For me, Tank is easier to drive but Arcade is easier to code.

To do so, you will need to invert that motor. I always "force" my programmers to fix things as soon as possible. In your case, you can fix it by using a -.2, or you can fix it by inverting that bit. The bit is sooner, which means you have to worry about it less. Less worry is more better.

[gwytheyrn]

Meh, I disagree, since for tank drive, you're essentially setting the motor values yourself, whereas arcade it's processed by the arcade vi (note: i say essentially).

just out of curiosity, try the attached code...It uses a different structure and does it in a smaller steps (time and motor value), but should have the same overall function. The positives and negatives might be flipped around as previously mentioned though

[Greg McKaskle]

From the little exerience I had in DC, I think there is benefit for using the same drive version or both tele and auto. That allows the auto code to replicate driver actions. True, if you can visualize the joystick maneuver either way, then I also prefer arcade for auto, but the important thing to me is that the person writing the auto can pretend they are setting the joystick and build code to replay that.

Perhaps someone would like to build a recorder for a drive session and play that back using an array of setpoints?

Greg McKaskle