Since we are new to VRC. We are struggling on the rule and solution on the following questions. Please help us. Thanks.
Regarding the Fifteen (15) second Autonomous Period, should we upload the “15 second program” to the brain?
As we need to connect to field controller which we never used in VIQC, how can we start the above auton program? In VIQC, we touched the sensor to let it start for skill round. So should we touch any sensor, or brain interface, or controller? We have no clue about that. Please help us.
Should we program the robot to stop at the 15 seond, or the field controller will stop the robot?
After the 15 second, how to let the robot know the auton is completed and we are going to start the Driver Controlled Period? Because in VIQC, auton is completely seperated from driver control.
Yes, you should. Make sure to use the competition template.
You can select the program from the remote or from the brain.
You do not need to program the robot to stop. The field controller will stop the robot after the autonomous period is over.
After the autonomous period is up, it will get scored to determine which team gets the autonomous bonus. After that the field controller will run your driver control if you use the competition template.
I’m not sure if this was made clear in the previous post, but all of your code, including autonomous and driverControl, will be placed into one program using the competition template. If you are using Vexcode Pro V5, you should be able to “File → open examples → competition” template to see how it is supposed to be set up. Alternatively, look up competition template vex. One Vex Page on templates
After the 15 secs, the field stays the same for driver control. Wherever a triball is when the buzzer sounds, it stays for the driver control. Hope that made sense.
Since it is controlled by the field controller, how to select? Basically, my question is when the game start, I click a button on my remote controller? I heard about that when the game start into the 15 second auton, controller doesn’t work anymore due to the field controller is in charge of.
One more question is that I can start the Pre Autonomous before game start by press any button on my controller in order to such as gyro calibration, am I right?
Then I just wait for the game to start, once game start, I can’t press any button on my controller because field controller won’t need any interaction from a user. So I am confused that some answers said I can press button on controller to start the auton. Any one can help on that? Thanks.
The general flow of a team at the competition field:
Turn on robot
Place robot on field in starting position
Select program (one made with the Competition Template, containing functions for auton and driver as the team sees fit) on robot brain
Plug controller into Field Control, which at this point is in “Disable” state, meaning no joystick commands will pass to the robot and the robot’s motors, etc. will not receive commands from the Brain.
Ref starts 3-2-1 count-down. The (human) operator at Tournament Manager activates Auton. This tells Field Control to put each of the 4 robot brains into the “auton” function, and the Brain will give motors control instructions while ignoring joystick inputs.
Tournament manager times 15 seconds, at which point it tells Field Control to put robots into “Disabled” state.
Refs score auton
Refs start a 3-2-1 count down. The (human) operator at Tournament Manager activates Driver Control. This tells Field Control to put each of the 4 robot brains into the “driver control” function from the Competition template. Joysticks and motors “work”
Tournament Manager counts down 1:45 and then puts the robots back into “disabled” state. Refs score the match.
Pay attention to the ‘auton’ and ‘driver’ sections in your code programming.
Also, this can be simulated with a handheld field switch, available for about $25 from vex… it’s a great way to test your code and be ready for competition. Also very useful for programming auton, both 15 and 60 second.
Steps 1 and 2 can be reversed and sequencing isn’t terribly important. Teams that have devices like the IMU (e.g. “gyroscope”) will want to start their program when the robot is placed on the ground and is not moving. The IMU initialization process can take 1-3 seconds (I believe) to properly calibrate and you really don’t want the robot moving (technically, accelerating along any of the 3 directional axis)
It is also important to note that if you start the robot’s program BEFORE plugging the robot into Field Control, the Robot/Brain will actually enter the Driver Control function. Your joystick will “work” and the motors/devices will send/receive information. Once you plug into Field Control, your Brain will go into “Disabled” state.
This was probably more important last year, for teams who may have had code that only unlocked / autofired their endgame mechanisms with a small amount of time remaining.
Subtle concept to consider: Do NOT assume that your auton or driver_control functions will run EXACTLY ONCE. There are cases (rare) where you may re-enter driver control multiple times (the most common being described above).
Now I fully understand the flow for 2min competition. But what is the flow for 1min autonomous skill, and what is the flow for 1min driving skill? I am still confused about those flow. Would you mind helping me out on those two questons? Thank you.
As @Micahy321 says, basically skills goes directly to whichever of auton/driver the skills run is and runs for a minute.
The general flow of a team at the competition field:
Turn on robot
Place robot on field in starting position
Select program (one made with the Competition Template, containing functions for auton and driver as the team sees fit) on robot brain
Plug controller into Field Control, which at this point is in “Disable” state, meaning no joystick commands will pass to the robot and the robot’s motors, etc. will not receive commands from the Brain.
Ref starts 3-2-1 count-down. The (human) operator at Tournament Manager activates the bot. For a Programming Skills run, this means the Brain runs the auton function of the selected program. For a Driver Skills run, this means the Brain runs the driver function of the selected Program. As before, the Brain can now control motors, read sensors, etc. and (for Driver), receive input from the Controller(s).
Tournament manager times 60 seconds, at which point it tells Field Control to put robots into “Disabled” state. Teams may indicate an early finish to the ref (and telling the ref beforehand they plan to do so and some agreed upon signal). In Programming Skills, teams sometimes also ask for an early stop, especially if the robot has run amok.
Now now. It’s the power of the emcee/ref’s 3-2-1 incantation that makes the field work. Just look at their befuddled faces when the TM operator is distracted.
