What Are You Doing During Autonomous Period?

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by Egg 3141592654

We deploy, because no amount of pre-charged tank pressure can get that kicker going in enough time to do much

What do you mean about "No amount of Pre-Charged Tank Pressure"?

I'm not trying to challenge your post or anything, but you can completely charge your pneumatic system before you walk on the field. That's what we're going to do and I know quite a few teams do this as well.

[drtysteve384]

We were going to locate the ball with our camera and then use our kicker to kick it in to the goal... but only if we were in the scoring zone...if not i think we would just kick them across the field...

[pilum40]

Stupid rookie question....we haven't programmed anything for auto. period. Will that actually cost us? Second dumb question...can we program something for auto. period once we're at the competition?
Our bot is designed to hop the bump, through the tunnel and push ball/play defense. Basically a simple design to run consistently each round without mishaps

Y'all's thoughts?

[vhcook]

Originally Posted by pilum40

Stupid rookie question....we haven't programmed anything for auto. period. Will that actually cost us? Second dumb question...can we program something for auto. period once we're at the competition?
Our bot is designed to hop the bump, through the tunnel and push ball/play defense. Basically a simple design to run consistently each round without mishaps

Y'all's thoughts?

No need to panic.

The only direct consequence of not having done an autonomous mode is that whatever zone you end up starting in will still have all of the initial balls there at the end of autonomous. This is a significant disadvantage if you're starting in the far zone (relative to your own goals) as that will leave three balls sitting in the near vicinity of one of your opponents goals at the start of teleoperated mode, but it's not likely to be the end of the world. It may make you slightly less desirable at alliance selection time on Saturday if you still don't have one and other teams do, but there are a lot of other variables in that decision.

You can program an autonomous mode on-site at the competition (or now, for that matter, although testing may have to wait a bit). If you need help and ask around at competition, you can almost certainly find a team that will help you.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by pilum40

Stupid rookie question....we haven't programmed anything for auto. period. Will that actually cost us?

Maybe a little. Work with your alliance partners. Ask them where they want you to set up so you are out of their way.

Second dumb question...can we program something for auto. period once we're at the competition?

Absolutely. Get some help on Thursday. There are plenty of good teams on the regional list. The best ones will be able to teach you how to program something for auton, not just do it for you.

[byteit101]

Originally Posted by drtysteve384

We were going to locate the ball with our camera and then use our kicker to kick it in to the goal... but only if we were in the scoring zone...if not i think we would just kick them across the field...

can your camera find the ball now? I would be interested in the code, as we are having some trouble locating the ball

[GGCO]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

You shouldn't need to track the ball. It starts exactly where you put it every match.

You are also allowed to precharge your pneumatics, so you shouldn't need to use auto mode to do that.

What my team WAS going to do in auto was to have several modes with an adjustable 0-15 series of switches for delay. Then we got the kicker working an hour before we had to crate, and we still lack a posession mechanism. So... probably just 3 autos, "kick em forward".

Rule please?

[Radical Pi]

Originally Posted by GGCO

Rule please?

<G09> BALL Starting Positions – Prior to the MATCH, each ALLIANCE is provided with six BALLS to be placed on the FIELD.

Lots of people have been confused on this one. It says the ALLIANCE places the balls

<R75> *snip*The compressor may be mounted on the ROBOT, or it may be left off the ROBOT and used to pre-charge compressed air in the storage tanks prior to bringing the ROBOT onto the FIELD. Off-board compressors must be controlled and powered by the ROBOT.

Basically, you can use another compressor as long as it is powered and controlled by the robot while off the field

[Big Kid]

Originally Posted by thefro526

Crying - Because we don't have an autonomous mode.

Or

Yelling - Because our programmer didn't make an autonomous mode.

It's 50/50 either way.

Or he going to be proud because I have an untested autonomous mode that should work in two out of three positions

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Radical Pi

<R75> *snip*The compressor may be mounted on the ROBOT, or it may be left off the ROBOT and used to pre-charge compressed air in the storage tanks prior to bringing the ROBOT onto the FIELD. Off-board compressors must be controlled and powered by the ROBOT.

Basically, you can use another compressor as long as it is powered and controlled by the robot while off the field

It was also my understanding that there is no rule requiring your pneumatic system to begin a match at 0 PSI, even if you have an onboard compressor... I'll find the rule in a minute.

[Vikesrock]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

It was also my understanding that there is no rule requiring your pneumatic system to begin a match at 0 PSI, even if you have an onboard compressor... I'll find the rule in a minute.

<R01-B> allows for 120 PSI stored at the start of the match in up to 4 Clippard tanks.

<R01> Energy used by FRC ROBOTS, (i.e., stored at the start of a MATCH), shall come only from the following sources:
A. Electrical energy derived from the onboard 12V battery (see Rule <R40> for specifications and further details).
B. Compressed air stored in the pneumatic system, stored at a maximum pressure of 120 PSI in no more than four Clippard Instruments tanks. Extraneous lengths of pneumatic tubing shall not be used to increase the storage capacity of the air storage system.
C. A change in the altitude of the ROBOT center of gravity.
D. Storage achieved by deformation of ROBOT parts.

Emphasis mine

[Egg 3141592654]

Originally Posted by thefro526

What do you mean about "No amount of Pre-Charged Tank Pressure"?

I'm not trying to challenge your post or anything, but you can completely charge your pneumatic system before you walk on the field. That's what we're going to do and I know quite a few teams do this as well.

What i mean is that our kicker is a long range kicker, and takes FOREVER to set up (Piston is too small), but once it is set, it takes a few seconds to reset after that.

[pschre]

If all goes well (chiefly our programmer figuring out how to get what he wants out of the encoders - and if not I guess he'll dead reckon using time) we should have about 16 different autonomous options, selectable with a rotating potentiometer dial (a clicking one would have been nice, but pre-match we'll just have to tether the Classmate to the robot and make sure we stop the dial at the appropriate number). Options such as: get out of our partners' way in the first 5 seconds, wait the next 5 seconds, and flick the ball over the hump/into the goal in the last 5 seconds, and various combinations thereof.

[jblay]

Hope that it doesn't mysteriously stop working in the eliminations and that it doesn't stop us from moving at all.

[apalrd]

Originally Posted by pschre

...our programmer figuring out how to get what he wants out of the encoders - and if not I guess he'll dead reckon using time...

If he wants help with the encoders, tell him to ask. There are many people here who would gladly help him.

As for that potentiometer thing, you can have dashboard indicators on your Classmate during Disabled, and see it there.