Who Has Programmed From Scratch?

[reversed_rocker]

yes, the demo code will work for a simple robot, but if you want to go beyond that you have the option. the code for 706's robot recently broke 500 lines (i started with the example "simple robot template", which was around 40 lines to begin with). it all depends on how many features you want and the amount of control you want on each one. i find that if programming has become to repetitive or too easy, i can just come up with a couple more sensors to add to take that extra load off the driver, or make an awesome autonomous mode.

some great ways to challenge your programming skills:

write an autonomous mode that automatically aims at the target

give your robot a swerve drive and make your own steering wheel

use a custom controller (something beside the joysticks)

write debugging code/add diagnostic sensors to see if any part of your robot is malfunctioning

all of these things are very possible but cant be done by copying and pasting demo code, and of course you can always write your own commands instead of using the ones built into the WPI library (i for one really dont like the PID controller)

[davidthefat]

Originally Posted by reversed_rocker

yes, the demo code will work for a simple robot, but if you want to go beyond that you have the option. the code for 706's robot recently broke 500 lines (i started with the example "simple robot template", which was around 40 lines to begin with). it all depends on how many features you want and the amount of control you want on each one. i find that if programming has become to repetitive or too easy, i can just come up with a couple more sensors to add to take that extra load off the driver, or make an awesome autonomous mode.

some great ways to challenge your programming skills:

write an autonomous mode that automatically aims at the target

give your robot a swerve drive and make your own steering wheel

use a custom controller (something beside the joysticks)

write debugging code/add diagnostic sensors to see if any part of your robot is malfunctioning

all of these things are very possible but cant be done by copying and pasting demo code, and of course you can always write your own commands instead of using the ones built into the WPI library (i for one really dont like the PID controller)

I wanted to do all these, PS3 Controller (How sick would that be) and the auto target/shoot but thats useless since the kicker is crap

[Greg McKaskle]

Being a SW guy myself, I can understand your frustration when everything else still has issues, but I'd encourage you to focus it in a more positive way.

Perhaps you can approach your mentor with some projects that you can work on that will not add too much risk to the robot. For one thing, you can easily make alternative code that you can test against the built-in. When yours is better and you convince your team and mentor, you can switch over. You can also switch back if you discover issues with yours.

It is pretty safe to develop a nice dashboard to give the drivers more info. And if you don't have an autonomous routine, yet, that is like the SW freebie. Figure out a way to score from at least the front field position in auto.

And good luck.
Greg McKaskle