At the end of autonomous mode, it is stated in the rules and in the video that the ringers we start out with need to be dropped at the end of autonomous mode and they will not count for anything from that point on. Is this something that will need to be programmed into the autonomous mode so the robot does it itself before the mode actually ends, or are the drivers allowed to drop it once they gain control of the robot again?
Drivers will be able to drop them manually. The intent is that they’re worthless (or even dangerous) after automode ends.
The drivers will need to drop the keepers when the “teleoperated” period starts and they take control of the robots. To my knowledge, there is no way tell the robot controller when the autonomous mode has ended other than counting for 15 seconds and then dropping the keeper.
i think they intended for this to mean that the keepers are completely useless after autonomous.
If you watch the kickoff feed again when they’re doing the thing with the people robots, after autonomous one of them lets the keeper go and dave says something like “that robot drops its keeper, thats a good idea cause theyre not worth anything anymore”
So theres no point in carrying around the keeper, so drop it
They are probably trying to discourage any scoring complications of actually placing a keeper on the rack, as they would have to define all the ways in which it is treated like a ringer. Also they would have the potential to make ringers safe by preventing a spoiler from being placed while not necessarily canceling out the teams first ringer.
That being said there is a lot of rules about how the keepers are handled after the autonomous period:
<G14> Late KEEPERS - After the AUTONOMOUS PERIOD ends, ROBOTS may not HANG any
KEEPERS for the remainder of the match. Any KEEPERS that a ROBOT may POSSESS
must be immediately released and dropped to the floor. If necessary, referees may validate
placement of KEEPERS during the pause following the end of the AUTONOMOUS
PERIOD. The referees may remove any KEEPERS that are not HANGING. If a ROBOT
HANGS a KEEPER after the AUTONOMOUS PERIOD, it will result in a disqualification. If
the “late KEEPER” is placed on a SPIDER LEG on which an opposing RINGER is already
HANGING, the “late KEEPER” will be ignored during the calculation of the match score. If
the “late KEEPER” is placed on a SPIDER LEG on which a RINGER from the same alliance
is already HANGING, the two will cancel each other and both will be ignored when
determining if the SPIDER LEG is SCORED. Note: as RINGERS and SPOILERS can be
HANGING only after the end of the AUTONOMOUS PERIOD, any KEEPERS HANGING on
a SPIDER LEG after a RINGER or SPOILER will automatically be determined to be a “late
KEEPER.”
So even though they can change the game if placed outside of auto, you will get dq’d for hanging them.
Well, there’s no reason you can’t keep telling your robot to do things autonomously once the driver period begins. You could program your robot so that at the very start of the driver mode (say, while your drivers are just stepping across the line) it drops whatever it is currently holding. Then your drivers don’t have to do it and you buy yourself an extra two seconds of time.