Everything Must Go! Autonomous Extravaganza

[EricVanWyk]

I've seen quite a few bots not move during autonomous so far. I think it is a completely reasonable goal to make sure that all robots at least move during autonomous.

Programmers, please make the rounds and help out the teams that need it. It is a quick, easy and rewarding way to meet new people.

Joe Hershberger had the following recommendation for a dead simple "get them started" Autonomous: Go half speed forward for 1 second, three quarter speed for 4 seconds, then stop.

Coding this is trivial - it is a 30 second modification to the default (don't forget to enable it!). You can slap this on your partners code in no time, and you have shown their programmer how to get started on simple dead reckoning methods. The match after that they'll have something a little more interesting.

Thoughts? Comments? Methods to encourage 100% adoption?

[Rick Wagner]

Excellent suggestion. More important than ever this year.

[EricVanWyk]

I did a quick implementation of Joe's idea and attached it here. I don't have Windriver installed - can someone post the C++ equivalent?

Thanks
- Eric

[David Doerr]

C++ attached -- Untested, use at your own risk!

[Analog]

We witnessed the same thing this weekend in Traverse City.


Actually, the best autonomous routines were very simple implementations. Some people are trying to use compasses and the like, but these are problematic and prone to problems.

[GGCO]

Originally Posted by Analog

We witnessed the same thing this weekend in Traverse City.


Actually, the best autonomous routines were very simple implementations. Some people are trying to use compasses and the like, but these are problematic and prone to problems.

Oh yeah, like 141 and just going out half way into the field and spinning. That was really really good.

[FRC4ME]

Has anyone seen anyone actually score in autonomous this year? It doesn't seem like that would be very rewarding given the amount of work required.

[Analog]

Originally Posted by FRC4ME

Has anyone seen anyone actually score in autonomous this year? It doesn't seem like that would be very rewarding given the amount of work required.

15 seconds isn't much time. Its better to get away from the chance of being scored on.

[Analog]

Originally Posted by GGCO

Oh yeah, like 141 and just going out half way into the field and spinning. That was really really good.

I'm not sure if you're being sarcastic, but the spinners were very effective. AKA team 201 (FEDs)

[thefro526]

Originally Posted by FRC4ME

Has anyone seen anyone actually score in autonomous this year? It doesn't seem like that would be very rewarding given the amount of work required.

There were a few teams that lined up with a trailer in Auto but chose not score because it was too risky. Most of them would then score the second teleop started.

[dboisvert]

Im pretty sure I saw 2645 at Traverse City scoring during autonomous a few times. But yes the spinning robots like BOB and WOBOTS were very effective during autonomous. Couldnt even come close to scoring on them.

[Greg McKaskle]

We saw occasional scoring from turret shooters in auto. More common was robots that scored immediately in tele. I'm not sure if it was luck or vision that had them lined up. This was at the DC regional.

Greg McKaskle

[gwytheyrn]

Mmmm...Here's the way I was showing people to do auto independent at Buckeye. It's a little more useful for those who intend on running the same vi over and over (we do-- We turret and use the turreting info to try to turn), but it's also useful for those who wish just to go by time, using the case begin..end syntax.
Vision tracking gets a little flaky at short distance because things move out of the field of vision too quickly. We run a P controller for turreting (apparently I and D kill it), and it really can't be set higher or it oscillates.

[Ice Berg]

My team (694) does this, and I also saw 25 do it. In auton we drive directly to our own human player, and with the last 5-10 seconds of auton, he loads us up with balls in our hopper. This obviously will only work if you can human load, but it has given us a huge advantage. In an average match, we start tele-op with around 17 balls.

[kirtar]

Originally Posted by FRC4ME

Has anyone seen anyone actually score in autonomous this year? It doesn't seem like that would be very rewarding given the amount of work required.

I saw it once at Boilermaker, don't remember which team, but it was completely by accident. The robot I'm talking about is prone to dropping game pieces whenever it ... comes to a sudden stop (also known as it hits something). In this case, what it happened to run into was a trailer.