Starting field position?

[VEI Dude]

Hi,

Reading the C/CPP Programming Guide for FRC (rev 0.5), and I see a function called "UINT32 GetLocation();" on page 79. Anyone know what position on the field corresponds to which return value (1,2,3)? And is it really supported? Or more importantly, can I expect it to be supported for the off-season competitions?

Thanks,
-Neil.

[Mark McLeod]

It's really the team assigned driver station (1,2 or 3), not the robot starting position.
The field system doesn't know where you place your robot on the field.

[VEI Dude]

Mark,
Thanks, but is that a definitive answer, or what you think it should be? I ask this because it (the doc) states "Starting Field Position of the Robot (1,2, or 3)", which gather to mean one of the 3 starting positions on the field, and somewhat expected that the jscoring/control system folks would enter that info before each match.

[EricVanWyk]

In Lunacy, the starting position on the field was not determined by the match randomization process, it was agreed upon by the alliance. Therefore, this particular function wasn't very helpful for 2009. Maybe the 2010 game will prescribe field positions, which would make it useful.

[VEI Dude]

I was hoping to use it for determining an autonomous strategy. But I guess I can put some switches on the driver's station that the pilots can set to indicate starting position. I just need to check the rules on that.

Thanks,
-Neil.

[EricVanWyk]

Beachbots wrote some cool code that effectively put a menu on the driverstation LCD for just that purpose. Before the match started, you could select an autonomous mode with the joysticks. Very Cool

I think Joe Ross would be more than happy to share - I know he published it a few places.