Who Has Programmed From Scratch?

[Mr. Lim]

I guess we know which team will be scoring 6 balls in autonomous mode at the LA regional this year!



There's a world of difference between just getting a robot to work versus producing a world-class robot.

The mediocre do the minimum, then exclaim how easy it is.

The exceptional never stop to gloat... they're too busy figuring out new ways to make it even better...

[davidthefat]

Originally Posted by Mr. Lim

I guess we know which team will be scoring 6 balls in autonomous mode at the LA regional this year!



There's a world of difference between just getting a robot to work versus producing a world-class robot.

The mediocre do the minimum, then exclaim how easy it is.

The exceptional never stop to gloat... they're too busy figuring out new ways to make it even better...

Well IDK My mentors do not believe in the programmers... I wanted to make a robot that would be shooting accurately, well programming can't do crap if the robot hard ware does not allow for that to happen... From the first day of the video broadcast, I had a design for a shooter that will allow programming to do it's job to the full potential, got shot down as soon as I presented it, for being too complex for "Highschoolers to make" well I don't think we were motivated enough, the programmers had to play around with the old robotics for the first 4 weeks... When I run for team leader next year, I hope to change that... I was totally willing to work my $@#$@#$@# off for this since this was my first year... We don't even know what to do during autonomous period, and how many days do we have left? like 5? I personally feel offended for not getting worked harder


Our team focused too much on the hardware itself, but my self was saying software first from the beginning, taking into stanford's philosophy of software first. I wanted to focus on the software to handle almost every thing, but too bad that didnt happen

[FlyingHedgeHog]

You might seriously consider applying the "student designed, student built, mentor approved rule. As it would seem you are having some instances of mentors being a bit too over-bearing, perhaps. Another useful rule our team has it the "mentors hands off policy." They don't have anything to do with the bot other than random pieces of advice here and there.

[davidthefat]

Originally Posted by FlyingHedgeHog

You might seriously consider applying the "student designed, student built, mentor approved rule. As it would seem you are having some instances of mentors being a bit too over-bearing, perhaps. Another useful rule our team has it the "mentors hands off policy." They don't have anything to do with the bot other than random pieces of advice here and there.

Well there is that rule but our mentor STRONGLY advised us to just go from the demos... Well I guess our mentors are pretty involved in our robot... The robot this year is a fail in my book, I personally thought we could have done way better, none of my ideas got implemented either... and we are losing lots of valuable seniors next year, so I have to step up.

[ideasrule]

Does the demo code work out of the box for detecting soccer balls? I haven't been able to get that to work.

[davidthefat]

Originally Posted by ideasrule

Does the demo code work out of the box for detecting soccer balls? I haven't been able to get that to work.

No, because the ball is not a 2 dimensional shape, it has shadows and stuff, so no

[davidthefat]

I HATE this year's robot, the kicker does not kicker over even one bump... Its unpredictable kicking too. I just hate it... It doesnt even drive over a bump... The middle wheel prevents it, and I was warning about it since the idea was introduced... $@#$@#$@#$@# no one listens to the sophomore...


I am definitely running for Team leader next year... I think we have to work harder next year

[gblake]

Originally Posted by davidthefat

I ... next year

Decide if you (personally) want to be RIGHT, or be successful; and then do what is appropriate after that decision.

The consequences of that decisioin might even involve an apology or two.

Many people want to be successful, but mistake that goal for the similar goal of being RIGHT.

Blake

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Originally Posted by davidthefat

but my self was saying software first from the beginning, taking into stanford's philosophy of software first. I wanted to focus on the software to handle almost every thing, but too bad that didnt happen

Stanford had a large amount of support from VW during the GDC.

Also,
Hardware always comes first. If your FRC software isn't required to be anything more than dumb, you will have a better robot. I guarantee it. Any software you develop means nothing if the hardware isn't reliable.

[Loubear]

I take a "if it's not broken, don't fix it" mentality towards all of this. If the existing camera code works fine, I have no qualms just using the default code. My time can be better spent doing something more productive and not already done, like implementing a kalman filter to augment dead reckoning, or creating an editable config interface. If you want a robot that just drives and does nothing else; then you could always use the default code. Other than that, there are PLENTY of neat things to be coding.

[AmoryG]

Originally Posted by TomBot

Stanford had a large amount of support from VW during the GDC.

Also,
Hardware always comes first. If your FRC software isn't required to be anything more than dumb, you will have a better robot. I guarantee it. Any software you develop means nothing if the hardware isn't reliable.

Yep. What's the point of getting your camera to track if you're just as likely to hit the referee standing 10 feet from where you were aiming?

[davidthefat]

Originally Posted by TomBot

Stanford had a large amount of support from VW during the GDC.

Also,
Hardware always comes first. If your FRC software isn't required to be anything more than dumb, you will have a better robot. I guarantee it. Any software you develop means nothing if the hardware isn't reliable.

I mean the hardware supplements the software, not software supplementing the hardware, a big difference

[slavik262]

Originally Posted by Mr. Lim

The mediocre do the minimum, then exclaim how easy it is.

The exceptional never stop to gloat... they're too busy figuring out new ways to make it even better...

This sums it up extremely well. A good programmer is never done coding, and his programs are never done (at least not before the deadline, they're not). If you're complaining that things are too easy, make it harder. There's always something that your code can do to make the robot perform better and the drivers drive easier. Implement PID on a mechanism so that it functions more smoothly. Implement the dashboard so your drivers have feedback. There's always something you can do. Our robot code has exceeded 2000 lines every year for the last three years, and I'm working on custom dashboard software that will soon exceed 4000 lines. I'm saying this to brag, but just to make the point that you can always add more and make it better. Could my team use the out-of-the-box code and use a standard dashboard? Sure we could, but we want to aim higher than that.

As for mentors, our team has always believed strongly that FIRST is an organization for students. We (the students) design the robot, we build the robot, and we code the robot. The mentors are there for our assistance when we ask for it. If this isn't how your team works and the mentors make the decisions, I'd strongly suggest doing something about this. FRC is a program for students, and your team should be for the students too.

[Alan Anderson]

To answer your question directly: the only things left from the default code in the Begin and Finish vi's of this year's TechnoKats programming are the camera initialization and cleanup. Aside from the framework, everything else in them and in the entire Teleop is custom. We also played a little trick of our own that prevents typos in the RefNum Registry names.

Naturally, a twelve-wheel holonomic drivebase with full pushing power will tend to need completely different code than what the default 2-motor arcade drive has.

[davidthefat]

Well its my first time working on a robot, I have written tons of code thats way past the 1000 lines, but they were games on the computer, its just a different feel

Well enough complaining, have a meeting in like 1.5 hours