This is going to be my first competition. Do I need to bring a competition switch to the tournament? Second, is there anything else I need? Third, do my students write their competition program on the fixed category or timed category for easy C? Sorry, a lot of newb questions.
Although this may vary between competitions, generally you will not have to bring a competition switch ( although it can be helpful for testing during practice times ) as the competition is generally controlled using a competition control. You will need your robot(s), you will probably want some spare parts and some tools (for tightening and building on ) and you will probably want a laptop with easyC loaded onto it so you can make alterations to the code during the event.
Im not quite sure what your asking for your third questions, but your code should be in a competition template. The autonomous section is code that will run without driver or joystick input, in nothing but net this will be the first 15 seconds. The tele-op section is the code that runs with driver input ( e.g. moving joysticks to control a drive system ), this will be the 2 minutes after the autonomous section.
And Finally, Good Luck!
thank you sir. This year has been rough. At least my kids are happy with their final robot and we are going to have a blast. How do they control the 4 robots during the tournament?
For a competition the joysticks are plugged into a ‘competition switch’ of types at the playing field in the alliance stations. This competition switch is wired to a field controller that is controlled (through USB) using software on a computer.
Everything used is shown here. It allows for accurate starting of a vex game.
For the competition you will want to bring along some extra motors and sensors, in addition to any extra parts you would need. Depending on how difficult it might be to access motors or sensors to replace them in case something happens, you might also want to prebuild some assemblies with the motors (i.e. pre-attach the motor and bearings to a piece of metal if it is quicker to just switch the whole piece of metal).
Also bring as many batteries as possible, and have someone in charge of making sure that all batteries get charged and the robot always has full batteries.
I’m not sure if you’re planning to do scouting of the other teams, but at the least make an effort of talking with every alliance partner before a match to plan your strategy.
Of course, there’s a lot more going on at a competition, but hopefully this helps. And if nothing else, just have fun and learn from it for your next comp!!
Sorry, I’m not completely sure what you meant by your third point, but you will need to put your code into a competition template for it to work with the field controllers. See:
Also test your robot before your matches.
Also if you have if statements like this
if(Btn8U==1){
motor[port2]=120
motor[port3]=120
motor[port4]=120
motor[port5]=120
}
if(Btn8D==1){
motor[port2]=127
motor[port3]=127
motor[port4]=127
motor[port5]=127
}
Be sure to us else if statements if different buttons control the same motors.
like this
if(Btn8U==1){
motor[port2]=120
motor[port3]=120
motor[port4]=120
motor[port5]=120
}
else if(Btn8D==1){
motor[port2]=127
motor[port3]=127
motor[port4]=127
motor[port5]=127
}
I didn’t do that and that little error cost us 2 matches.
Write your code in the field control option, this way the robot will be able to receive commands from the field control system at competitions. Pm if you have more questions.