In the manual, FIRST says that teams can operate robots autonomously, drive blind, or use visual feedback to operate the robot. This wording seems to imply that the options are mutually exclusive.
Can we alternate between an autonomous routine and teleop control during the Sandstorm? Also, if we run autonomous routines triggered by driver control, does it still count as teleop control? Thank you.
āIs the use of āorā in section 5.2 to describe a TEAMās options for controlling their ROBOT during the SANDSTORM PERIOD exclusive (meaning a TEAM must choose between each of these options) or inclusive (meaning a TEAM may employ all of these options in a single MATCH)?ā would be a good question for Q&A when it opens on Wednesday.
You can ādrive blindā which is basically teleop just with the blinders down. Nothing stops you from doing autonomous routines during teleop. So yes, itāll just probably need to be programmed in your teleop code.
Iām more interested in whether thereās going to be the traditional pause and control mode switch at the end of the SANDSTORM, or if controls will stay live the entire time. If there was enough to keep your autonomous/driver busy for +15s after match start, thereād be a slight advantage if there wasnāt the usual transition to Disabled.
Worst comes to worst, you can put your auton code in robot init, so it runs as soon as dc starts
It would really suck if your robot reboots and goes into an auton routine.
Thatās true, you could have it as an option in LiveWindow maybe? Like it is on at the start then after you switch it off so if you dc it doesnāt activate? Definitely something to think about
Iām assuming that Sandstorm is implemented as the Autonomous period on the driver station. Iād like to hear this clarified, though.
What our team has seen is that Sandstorm is considered part of driver control, as it is scored with it and there is no delay between Sandstorm and the rest of the match ie the blinds roll up after Sandstorm is over and nothing stops. If this is true, then this would work. Definitely a Q&A thing.
The sandstorm is implemented as the Auto period
This was clarified in the New for 2019 section of the wpi library where it reads
Sandstorm Coding
- Mode - Despite the Sandstorm not truly being an āAutonomousā mode, all code (DS, robot code, etc.) will continue to refer to this period as āAutonomousā or āAutoā for continuity
- Joystick Access - For this season only, joystick data will not be cached on the transition to Autonomous. Teams will be able to access updated joystick data throughout the Autonomous/Sandstorm period.
- Game Data - There is no game data for the 2019 season.
Given what @JR0405 posted, it seems likely to me that the traditional auto -> disabled -> teleop transition will occur.
Yeah, that definitely implies atleast a brief transition through Disabled, consistent with prior years. Itās smart implementing the change by just updating joystick inputs instead of caching them, saves loads of headaches reworking FMS and framework code.