So there has been a running debate on our team. One of our high rated priorities is a three tote auto. We deemed that even if it is not accomplished, having a robot designed to do so (as in have qualities that would be required for the task. Quick tote stacking, good control of stack totes etc.) would be a competitive robot. Now some of our team members ranging from freshman to senior have deemed it impossible off the bat (dangerous to do as we deemed it a priority as a team.) The problem is that these claims are just based on theory, not fact. ( I guess most of design is theory, but impossible is a word not to be used lightly.)
My real question for you guys is what do you think? Is a three tote auto worth doing? Would it be an accomplish-able task for a relatively experienced team? Or is it really as impossible as some have said? Please provide specific situations, or examples walking through your reasoning for either view point.
My opinion is not that it is impossible–after all, the totes are in known positions, and it should be highly possible to deal with the recycling bins in the way–but that it is HIGHLY difficult, and more particularly for only having 15 seconds to work with.
I do think that we will see AT LEAST one alliance attempt and succeed, particularly at high levels… but there will be many failures, and even more that do not attempt it.
Here is my reasoning:
Totes are not easy to stack. (Easier than '03… but that’s not saying much.)
The totes are spread far apart, and then must be taken over or around an obstacle to score. This means a high-speed motion is necessary.
In order to do it successfully, 1 robot should do it. The other two need to get the rest of the cans out of the way, right away. That robot will need: a robust and insanely good bin alignment device (BAD), a quick stacker, a fast drive that is controllable, tracks straight, and turns on a dime, AND some luck and coordination.
I don’t think it will be too uncommon. I expect most winning alliances will at least come close to it. We’ve seen teams do much harder tasks in auto the last few years. Some of the amazing frisbee codes and 254’s auto last year come to mind.
More seriously, there are a number of ways a team could approach it, but all of them are probably much harder than the analogies from previous years due to the difficult nature of stacking.
Teams could drive a specialized path to pick up all three totes without getting knocked around by the cans, with some going forwards and backwards and forwards again. This would be compareable to a 3 tube autonomous from 2011 done by a single robot, or single team doing a 9 disc auto in 2013 (which I think only happened in labs). This requires one team to do a ton of programming work, and often comes down to luck in terms of effectiveness.
A second team could move two of the containers into the auto zone allowing for a clear line to pick up all three totes. This could be comparable to the 2012 feeding autos or our auto from 2014, where partners were set up in a special way to work with the team that did the scoring. This could require some programming assistance to the assistant bot, but could be feasible during elimination rounds
One team would take two totes, and second coordinates to stack the third one in a common location. This would be similar to what strong 2011 alliances did. This would require two teams to do a solid amount of work beforehand, and luck that both teams have systems so that they can place their bins in the same location
This list is definitely not exhaustive, but these are some strategies that I thought of using previous years as inspirations. These strategies, like any strategy, should be considered using cost-benefit analysis.
The 3 tote stack in autonomous will happen, but it won’t be common. It’s not just a difficult technical problem of how to accomplish it, there’s also the opportunity cost of the tote and container sets that could have been scored. It seems like most 3 tote autos are going to be herculean efforts by one robot while the others “stay out of the way”, and will preclude the much simpler autonomous of everyone drive forward with a tote and/or container. If the 3 tote stack fails you don’t get 20 points for it, but you also miss out on 6 points for a tote set if the totes fail to make it to the auto zone, and you likely miss out on an 8 point container set because the robot didn’t drag the container with it.
In short, if I have a fairly high confidence level that my alliance can drive straight and push some containers, I’m not sure I want to risk losing 6/8/14 points on a higher risk maneuver.
The GDC has yet to give an impossible task. It wouldn’t surprise me if the GDC has a robot or two made already that can accomplish this task, just so they know that it isn’t impossible.
It will not surprise me when I see robots accomplishing three tote auto. FRC teams always surprise with ingenuity. We thought that a three uber-tube auto was improbable back in 2011 (team 233 comes to mind). The additional challenge of dealing with diverse game pieces will lead to some interesting autonomous routines, I am interested to see what you come up with.
I think the question is really the value. Elite teams don’t do things because they are difficult; they do them because they are valuable. I can think of at least two other things that can be done in autonomous that are of much greater value than 20 points. It’s not that is be surprised to see someone accomplish the task this year; it’s that I’d be surprised to see a team that does it make it to Einstein. Or at least I’d be surprised to see an Einstein team DO it at Einstein.
We will never see a multiple robot three tote stacking autonomous. Quite frankly, I don’t think there is an event in FRC where three teams have such consistent, precise, customizable autonomy.
I believe that it is possible for a single robot to do this task. However, the requirements to complete this task are quite the tall order:
The robot needs to be able to acquire a tote, from an off-center orientation, reliably and consistently in less than two seconds.
The robot needs to be able to move those totes in stacking position while driving to the next tote.
While I don’t think a holonomic drivetrain is REQUIRED to complete the autonomous mode, it is a very big advantage for completing this specific task in order to avoid the bins if partners cannot move them (which they won’t, most of the time).
The robot needs to be able to accurately track its own position through multiple twists and turns.
However, the value of this 3 tote auto is if anything understated. It is worth far more than just 20 points, for one simple reason - a completed three tote auto is a nearly completed coopertition stack. A team who has completed, or nearly completed, the tote autonomous can place the coopertition stack in just a few seconds, rather than taking 20-30 seconds to stack their own set of three. All that is needed of the other alliance is for a single alliance member to place a single tote on the step and that’s essentially 60 points in autonomous + 10 seconds of teleop.
The task is very difficult, but I believe it has enough of an impact on qualification matches that teams will design their entire robots around completing this task, and that we will see on average 1-2 teams per event complete it. Not every event will have a completed three stack autonomous, not even close, but it won’t be unheard of. A little less common than the 2012 triple balance.
My thoughts exactly. As with FRC games of late, time is money, so while you may not cash in a lot on the initial auto points, you won’t have to spend so much time later in the match. On its own, meh, but with the time saving, well worth it.
Any strong robot whose primary function is to pick up and stack totes should be able to stack the three autonomous totes: Consider: you have three totes placed precisely and predictably. You can place your robot in an ideal location and you can arrange with your alliance partners to go whereever. If you can quickly pick-up and stack totes, this task should be something the programmers can handle… The real question is, besides stacking the three totes, what else can you do?
No, we don’t have a robot yet. We are building a base and just got a prototyping group assigned this evening for our second manipulator. Our first manipulator has been in the prototyping phase for a couple of days, but the design not yet complete. However, picking up totes and stacking them very quckly with a bin on top is our focus. Once we have built the devices and having them working, we’ll work on the autonomous programming…
All I’ll say is that driving to specific points on the field multiple times without fail is a lot easier for a person to do than a chunk of code (and will most likely require non-KoP sensors on the bot specifically for this purpose).
I’m not the technical guru, but I have seen what our programmers can do when given a good machine and time. Our team’s best robot ever was two years ago… They gave it the ability to, barring defense, run an entire match autonomously. It was very cool.
The obvious way to make sure the CONTAINERS are out of the way as you collect TOTES, is to also collect all three CONTAINERS before your robot heads over to the AUTONOMOUS ZONE.
A 3 tote stack is easy. As a captain, pick a partner who can get the 2 RB’s out of the way. Or demonstrate on the practice field that you can get the 3 tote stack if a partner gets the 2 RB’s out of the way.
