2006 Autonomous Disappointment

[Rick Thornbro]

How many matches last year that were over in less than 10 seconds.

I feel that auton is critical this year, teams could win or lose a match within 10 seconds. Much more fun for us programmers.

[Joohoo]

Just because Auton mode is shortened That doesn't mean you can't have a task done autonomously in the other 2 minutes

[BotLobsta]

What would be really impressive is if your team didnt need any drivers. The robot could acquire the target, shoot, and move all on its own. Then at the end of 120 seconds, it tries to get back to the platform. That would be very cool to watch.

[Donut]

That would be cool, except for the part where it tries to fire the balls it doesn't have, because it's already fired the 10 balls it started with.

And it's no where near impossible to hit the center goal without using the camera at all. The camera is a very good assistance and increases your accuracy humongously; but you can calculate that your robot could hit the goal if it's between x distance and x distance, estimate that distance during the match using field features (and knowing their distance from the goal), and try to line it up so the ball will land in the goal. Alot more room for you to miss, but still possible.

[phrontist]

90 seconds in autonomus? Psssh. Lame! Our driver will just try to amuse the crowd while the robot does it's thing...

[TimCraig]

Originally Posted by phrontist

90 seconds in autonomus? Psssh. Lame! Our driver will just try to amuse the crowd while the robot does it's thing...

I've seen your drivers. They're not that amusing.

[phrontist]

Originally Posted by Donut

That would be cool, except for the part where it tries to fire the balls it doesn't have, because it's already fired the 10 balls it started with.

And it's no where near impossible to hit the center goal without using the camera at all. The camera is a very good assistance and increases your accuracy humongously; but you can calculate that your robot could hit the goal if it's between x distance and x distance, estimate that distance during the match using field features (and knowing their distance from the goal), and try to line it up so the ball will land in the goal. Alot more room for you to miss, but still possible.

That's why you should have sensors to count the balls going in and out of your hopper. FIRST provided some... if you know where to look.

Furthermore, human beings really suck at this sort of thing. I predict no human driver will get an accuracy of above 30% when being harassed by a defensive robot at multiple ranges.

[Donut]

We're already intending on using this sensor, I was just commenting a completely autonomous robot would have great difficulty finding balls to pick up off the floor, and I wouldn't want to rely on my human players trying to throw them in the robot.

If you lower the angle enough (somewhere in the range of 25 to 40 degrees) and fire the ball with the right velocity, you can get it so the ball "peaks" at a height that would still go in. If you make this height very close to the top and do a shallow angle that allows the ball to maintain a height near that for a good lenght of time, you can get a wide range to shoot with (shooting 10 m/s at 32 degrees if your ball leaves your launcher at 54" allows you to hit the goal anywhere from 6 feet to 24 feet away without readjusting, not including air resistance).

[Venkatesh]

Even greater than the holy grail: Your robot has one button, Win.

[TimCraig]

Originally Posted by Joohoo

Just because Auton mode is shortened That doesn't mean you can't have a task done autonomously in the other 2 minutes

Two separate issues. If you don't walk away with the 10 point autonomy bonus, the rest is just robot control.

[Cyber Punk 234]

I think less time is better really. It makes teams have to perfect and work harder to make sure it works right.

[binary_sandman]

i am mad that aucton is cut to 10 seconds but challenges are good.
it is still Enough to make a ball in the top goal.
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[KenWittlief]

only one button? "Launch" or "shoot" would be good.

"Fire" on a robot is usually a bad thing - or do you mean to trigger the Halon system?

BTW: over the years I have seen robots catch fire during a match. Sometimes a motor does a pyrotechnic show billowing smoke. A few times wires have shorted and circuit breakers where not where they should be and stuff caught fire.

If this happens quickly look in the bleachers. You can actually see all the team scouts, crossing that team number off their list of potential alliance partners :^)

[Eldarion]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

only one button? "Launch" or "shoot" would be good.

Why do we need a button? The joysticks have triggers, right?

[Sagar_Indurkhya]

Originally Posted by Eldarion

Why do we need a button? The joysticks have triggers, right?

Because pushing a big red button is classic.