Can you program autonomous without the cubes?

#1

My school currently only has 1 cube for tower takeover. Is there any way to program autonomous with just one cube?

#2

You could, but when you are at a competition, it might behave differently because there will be cubes. I suggest that you get some more cubes, but if you cannot, you should definitely use the one that you have.

#3

I would especially like to emphasize the point that cubes change autonomous. You have more weight, the cubes slide reluctantly on the field and that could mess up your drive, your intakes might not be fast enough at the speed your auton goes and end up only intaking 2 cubes or so. The cubes friction adds up. My auton was grabbing the ground row of cubes and to get the cubes, I had to go farther than necessary because our intakes weren’t picking up the cubes. And only when I reset the cubes by the tower would the auton pick them up. If you end up touching a cube that is on the ground, it is going to change your movement.

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#4

In a situation with only one cube, it’s not hard to make a one cube autonomous. You could attempt to get the movements right, and at competition if they have a practice field get the autonomous movements tweaked to where it works. Also you could make cubes yourself, though be warned they won’t be the same as a normal cube and the program would need tweaking.

#5

you could do what our club did when the game came out. we made a cube ,out of cardboard, useing the dimentions that the rule guide gave us. if you make 66 cubes then you could have an entire pit lol.

#6

just asume u have the preload and pickup 1 more cube.
2 cube aton is fine for this early in the season

u can also do that but it wont be the same

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#7

The problem is that I am competing against teams with 6-10 cube autons.

#8

oh i retract my statement then

#9

You can buy cubes indivisually from Vex for 11 dollars each, a bit expesive, but better than losing the match, you’ve already spent thousands on the robot already. Other than that I don’t think that there will be a reliable way to code autonomous without the necessary number of cubes for that autonmous. You can ask teams around your area.

#10

We placed a PO weeks ago to buy more cubes, but it’s taking forever to get approved. And my next competition is in two weeks

#11

I think you best bet for making a good auton without your own cubes is to borrow cubes from other teams, or go visit other teams to practice your auton, plan the route out, and then try it later once you get to a proper practice field, you just need to the get positioning correct, check out appendix A for more information. I’m no expert in Vex, I’m just speaking from FLL experience.