Successful "Y" in autonomous

[Mastonevich]

I was just curious to know how many examples we have of teams that have successfully run the "Y" in autonomous? We finally got ours to work at our first regional on Saturday and it was a joy to watch. I am guessing not many teams did it as it is my opinion that it was better to just use other methods if you had them available.

I did not see any other teams do at Midwest, but I was also very busy and did not get a chance to see all of the matches.

So to get the list started:

1987

[Jon Stratis]

our robot has successfully run the Y... just not on the competition field. We have yet to be in a match where both of our alliance members could place an ubertuber... Since straight is more reliable in general, we've always put the robot that doesn't move in autonomous in the middle.

[Refresh]

Team 74 did the Y line a few times in Niles. We usually do the straight line when there are three robots that do auton but when there are only two we tried and did the Y line.

[jacobs1232]

You can add 1351 to your list of teams that can take the "Y".

Using line trackers, we can follow the reflective tape and use it to take the "Y" and score on the top tier in autonomous.

[nikeairmancurry]

Going straight just seems easier...Also we felt that trying to follow the line was to slow and it would take away the possiblity of our two tube auton we run.

[tr6scott]

2137 can do the Y also, high pegs, either way. Straight is more reliable, so we have only done that in competition so far.... This week will be our 2nd District, so hopefully we will have an opportunity to prove it on the field.

[akeisic]

294 line followed straight during the LA quals, but used our Y auto exclusively in the elims to much success. Our alliance put up 3 uber tubes a couple of times. We use 3 line sensors and an ultrasonic to get the distance right.

[HansJ]

We, 3018, can do it in practice, and we will see about doing it in competition this week. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b90TGIKbB80

P.S. The tape is yellow so there is enough contrast between the floor and the tape. We followed successfully at the scrimmage we went to.

Hans

[Chris Nellis]

Team 2537 did the Y at the Washington DC regional a couple times. We bought some extra line sensors to improve reliability

[Mastonevich]

It is great to hear that many other teams did this. A few thoughts based on comments so far:

1. Doing it in practice and doing it in a match are two very different things. We could do it in practice but when we got to competition the black tape coming out of the "Y" on the field forced us to adjust the sensitivity on the sensors.

2. The straight line is definitely easier so the "Y" is not needed in most instances. I think we will see in the last two weeks and at nationals that the teams who can do the middle (using any method really) will shine.

3. The "Y" was pretty difficult. We found that one has to have enough motor power to overcome initial inertia, but not to much power to make the sensors inoperable. We had to find the correct speed for both straight and cornering to make it work. We also found that a fresh battery makes a huge difference.

I would love to more video of this being done successfully.

[beth_hadley]

I'm proud to add team 548 to the list of teams who successfully navigated the Y and posted uber tubes on the top rack in autonomous. We actually exclusively used this mode at our Ann Arbor district on Saturday to test its reliability. Unfortunately during elimination rounds one of our four motors broke and we could no longer navigate the Y - no worries, we followed the line straight and hung the uber tube successfully during our last match.

We follow the line using line sensors and have found the algorithm, once perfected, to be quite reliable. We measure distances using the average of the encoders on left/right motors. We're looking forward to using our autonomous modes to our advantage at the Michigan State tournament and (hopefully) at championships!

Videos will be up soon.

[Joe Ross]

2439 did it. http://regionalwebcast.com/sandiego/...inals-Match-14

[Yankeefan181]

Originally Posted by Joe Ross

2439 did it. http://regionalwebcast.com/sandiego/...inals-Match-14

We were alliance partners with these guys for eliminations in San Diego and it was pretty impressive. Mecanum wheels probably helped a lot in programming it. They ended San Diego with one of the most consistant autonomous modes there.

[duffany1]

As of about two days ago, Team 195 can do the "Y."

[Jogo]

The "Y" is probably only useful for showing off, although we're prepared to use it in the case where we get 3 robots with autonomous modes. It looks awesome with mecanum wheels--check it out: http://pobots.com/index.php?option=c...rack&Itemid=96.