Discuss and Decide on Autonomous Route

[moreheadm]

There a bunch of different ways FalconX can approach autonomous. Should we start in the middle an go to either switch, depending on which one is ours? Should we start on on one side and go around the back if we start on the wrong side? Should we drop the cube in from the front, the side, or the back of the switch? Should we go to the scale?

This issue is for discussion of these questions among the programming team.

[myahn725]

oops, sorry

[myahn725]

umm, I'm having trouble with this thing... so I can't find the stuff that I sent earlier today. Do I have to press something or does it automatically delete. Can you even see this

[myahn725]

Is this text visible to anybody

[myahn725]

okay, assuming others can see this... I was just saying that I see that it is risky to have our robot go to the others side of the field during autonomous; it might even interfere with other alliance robots. I think we should just forfeit the scale/switch if it is on the other side of the field.

[magic-robot-man]

You mean left/right side?

[magic-robot-man]

(Just clarifying because robots can't cross into the opponent side of the field during auto.)

[GabriellaYang]

We could right the code to move around the switch or scale from above. So to avoid the other robots

[myahn725]

yes, I meant the other (right/left) side of the field

[moreheadm]

@myahn725 @GabriellaYang I like Mia's idea. I think what she means by from above, is between the scale and the switch (behind the switch). That way the code is relatively simple no matter which side the scale is on, you will not run into other robots, and you always cross the auto line.

One thing you guys should think about is that every turn the robot does is a chance for the robot to go off course. Therefore, it might not be the best idea to go to the wall. Also, I don't see how going to the wall will help you avoid other robots, or make your driving simpler.

[JoeyStratton]

@moreheadm In my opinion, the biggest problem with the autonomous routine is the starting positions: It is extremely hard to know the exact starting positions of the robots and put your robot in that specific position. This is the main reason I suggested that we drive to the wall, as it would be an easier way to compensate for the variation of starting positions. (by driving all the way to the wall, we can use the wall to stop the robot-drive around a foot from the wall then slowly drive the next foot so we hit the wall softly) I agree that having less turns would have less of an option for turning errors, but since we do not have anything for anti-collision, I think driving across the entire play area will have a high chance of crashing and messing up our routine (any maybe one of the other robots' routines too). As far as avoiding other robots, there is no real way to completely know we will avoid all collisions but driving along the edge seems like it would avoid more robots than going through the middle. If other teams had the same idea as us, I feel like it would be a lot easier to explain and adjust driving to a wall than driving at a specific angle through the middle of the field.

[moreheadm]

@JoeyStratton You can choose what position to put your robot in when you put the robot on the field.

I think these are some questions you should consider:

• What happens if the autonomous routine fails (for some reason). Is the failure mode graceful (i.e. you don't get a cube but you cross the autonomus line) or is it bad (you go in the wrong direction/crash into robots or other obstacles)?
• What is the best way to get out of other teams way? What will other teams be doing? Is it more important to move down the field quickly (avoiding collisions by quickly moving), or to move to the side?
• What is simplest to write, understand, and change (odds are you will have to change your code at the competition)? Which routine is least likely to have bugs?

The less lines of code, the better, generally.