and this is exactly why we made this post. We tried the remote with others at the same time and it was “pretty futile.”
Sending a signal at the beginning of the match is the most insuring way to ensure that it receives it, PLUS autonomous should ideally be enough to do what you want it to do. The fact that a camera has no green light to detect this year would have made autonomous not enough by itself in finding the correct ball to “tip.” 
How about 4 buttns like this:
- forward
- turn left
- raise arm/ lower arm
- stop
for all of those who suggested
turn left
go forward
knock ball down
etc.
the problem is simple- the IR sensor gets signals from the remote only in a maximum of 3-4 meter range. the balls are 8 meters away from the robocoach so these commands are not possible.
i also have a question- i could i use the IR to determine which “autonomus mode” i would like to choose(ball to you left ball to your right etc.) but can i send the robot these signals during initialize mode ? (when the robot is on but not autonomus yet)
another good point made. The best range we got with the right light conditions and no interference with other remotes was 12ft. That field is obviously too large for the remote to send signals to during the match.
We got about 25, up to 30 feet using a Sony projector remote. It was in plain lighting conditions and only using the one remote. It was just a walk-backwards-until-it-doesn’t-work kind of test.
well its no wonder you got a greater range. Its a Sony…hehe.
On the other hand… it did install a rootkit on our IR board. 
lol
Has anyone else had success with long(er) range remotes? Does anyone know of a place to buy a long range remote? I’ve got a couple people searching for a better remote.
If my team comes up with a mod to the remote to make it more powerful, I’ll certainly share it.
There is still some debate as to the interpretation of this rule (and the other rules about only 4 commands/actions). From Rule R67:
- use a maximum of four different inputs from the ROBOCOACH (e.g. use four different buttons) during any single MATCH
- communicate no more than four messages, states or conditions to the ROBOT (please refer to Rule <R69> and Rule <G01> for additional information) during any single MATCH.
So if the action on your card for button 1 says “put robot in state 1”, in hybrid mode that could communicate ball position (if state=1, ball is on left side; do this…); in tele-operated mode that could be open gripper (if state=1, extend actuator number 2).
We’ll have to wait and see what the ruling is on definition of “command set”; is it you commanding the RC (where my example is OK; I’m still commanding the same thing) or the RC commanding the robot (where it’s not, because the RC has changed it’s command set during the match)?
We need Dave here to comment on this, but officially should post on the Q&A board on the FIRST site for a response.
Wow, I read this and it made sense.
I was toying with the idea of using them like toggle switches, but I never put 4 and 4 together.
Job well done guys, you are the beings of superior intellect.
We’re planning on having the IR remote provide very similar driving functions to regular operator control. Our 4 buttons do:
1 - turn left 10-degrees
2 - turn right 10-degrees
3 - accelerate 2fps^2
4 - decelerate 2fps^2 (including going negative if already at zero)
Since the buttons can be repeatedly pressed as needed, this should provide decent driving functionality.
Can this also not be accomplished simply by setting your autonomous program at your operator controls after they randomly place the trackballs on the overpass? <G20> just says the players have to be in the alliance stations for the trackballs to be placed, NOT behind the lines. They can still make adjustments to auton before the match starts. If anyone sees any other rules which prohibit this action, I’d love for them to point them out.
I know not every team employs such autonomous program select functionality at their operator controls, but perhaps they should, given the added flexibility.
<G20>
[LEFT]TRACKBALL Locations - After all ROBOTS participating in the MATCH are in their starting positions and the TEAM members are in the ALLIANCE ZONE and/or ROBOCOACH STATIONS, four TRACKBALLS will be placed on the OVERPASS. On each side of the OVERPASS there are three TARGET LOCATIONS for TRACKBALLS. The field management system will randomly choose an initial starting location for the TRACKBALLS before the start of each MATCH. One red and one blue TRACKBALL will then be positioned
in the chosen TARGET LOCATIONS on each side of the OVERPASS. After this point in time no ROBOT may be moved or repositioned until the MATCH starts.[/LEFT]
[LEFT]Now regarding the IR remote…[/LEFT]
[LEFT]Not having really thought about it in too much detail, I’d consider the following four actions…[/LEFT]
[LEFT]Start/Continue (Jump to Next Autonomous Step)
Stop/Pause (Signal End of Current Autonomous Step)
Tweak Steering Left some finite increment during motion
Tweak Steering Right some finite increment during motion[/LEFT]
[LEFT]I do not anticipate much use of the remote in Teleop mode. Actions 1 and 2 would obviously not apply. Perhaps I could use Actions 3 and 4 to assist the pilot in making the left turn at the far end of the field should his/her vision be blocked.[/LEFT]
The only other thing you need to worry about is also your starting position. Since you will have 1 of 3 spaces you will occupy the code will need to be changed for each space. So you would need to plan out who gets what space with your alliance members.
Our team’s plan for hybrid and the IR is this. We are planning on making it so our robot will autonomously go for the middle part no matter what. But if there is no ball there we have a back up plan. We are using mecanum or omniwheels and will only need to press left or right. That way we wouldn’t interupt the auto code and we dont need to waste a button on taking off the trackball. The other two buttons are now open to something else such as go around the corner and get the other ball or something like that. We don’t want it to be just a small controller so we are using set out functions for it to do.