In the autonomous mode I am going to program the robot to keep track after the green light and then put the tube on one of the plates. My question is: how can I make this be effective without interrupting my alliances’ robots? I mean, how can I make sure that my robot puts a tube in another plate then my ally? My team is a rookie team and so am I, so please explain in detail.:]
That is something you have to go over with your teammates at the competition. If you are able to, you can program multiple autonomous modes so that you have more flexibility during the competition.
An easy way would be to ask you alliance partners which ones they are going for before each match and change it that way.
as chris said and this means that you require the ability to score in more than one position and more than likely want to have the possibility two levels of spider leg.
Have 3 different auto modes written. By modifying the calculations, you should be able to place your robot either at the green light (like you described), or to the plate either to the left or the right of the green light, by offsetting the calculation, and calculating the necessary angles.
If you are able to do this, meet with your alliance members before the match to determine what postion you are going to start from, and which arm you are going after.
Since they will spin the rack before the match, you won’t be guaranteed that it will be a straight line to the light anyway, just play with the math a little and you should be able to geometrically determine where you are on the playing field (with respect to the light) and where you want to go. The arms on either side of the light are at 45 degrees from center of arm.
Well, I could do this this way: first of all the robots scans for light, if it gets 2 lights it sums up the tilt it made for each light. According to this I can calculate the angle my robot is from both of the lights, and know the angles of the triangle between light #1, light #2 and the robot (according to each tilt with the servo tracking). Then I can know exactly where I am according to the lights and eventually according to the spider legs.
If there is only 1 light straight ahead then the sum of the tilt would be zero, and my robot will have to go straight ahead.
Tell me if you think this idea is good:o
well, i cant say much considering that this is also my first year, but i would have to tell you first of all to ask your alliance members which way/direction that they are going. and as mentioned before, offset your calculations to get your robot to place a keeper to the left or the right of the green light, even though it might be a slight difficult to offset it just the right ammount, but good luck either way:cool:
Ahhhh, young grasshoper, you are on the right path. As lead coder of our team, I reaaaaalllly should start working on the code.
have a switch on your robot (like a thumbwheel) that has different combinations
i.e
123
1st level, 2nd collum, 3rd starting position to the right
like everyone else said it’s just a matter of finding atleast three different paths because your partners are each going to have one path so all you need is a third path and you should be ok
another option. from what i’ve seen, there are green lights on the quarters of the rack. have the robot (by dead reconing) move next to the rack, rotate until it sees a light, and place a tube accordingly.
Dead reckoning will only get you a hang-over and a bad case of herpes. Same thing for you bot.
To have a quality auto mode. You should make an autonomous modes that are capable of the following.
1.) The Option to Run No Autonomous Mode. Incase yours goes wrong,
your partners have a stronger auto mode then you do, or causes your robot to break. You can cover this with No.2
2.) The ability to add a delay, usually a POT with a 1-15 second setting. This allows your partners to get out of the way if they also have an auto mode.
3.) The ablity to select to score on at least 2 diffrent spider legs. If you can score on all 3 in a row thats a plus. Being able score on any additional side is a major bonus.
4.) When and if your robot can score, once its done get out of the way. If you can select the direction it will run away in thats even better. This give your partners time to score.
5.) If your robot can take the abuse, a defensive auto mode is a great thing!
Bottom line flexablity is key and usually little addons to a program make all the diffrence.
Sir, I enjoy your ideas and wish to subscribe to your newsletter.
I feel somewhat embarrassed that’s never occurred to me (the part about using a Pot to set the delay). I’ve always just hard-coded in a delay and changed it between rounds when necessary. Being able to select the time on the fly, though… that’s dash cunning.