Determining Team

[Tom Line]

Is there a variable inside labview that the teams can access that will have the team assignment during an actual match?

[Joe Hershberger]

If by team assignment you mean the alliance that you are on and the position of your driver station on that alliance, then yes. The Get Alliance Info VI is now on the Driver Station palette as of Update 3.

[Joe Hershberger]

I've annotated a drawing of the field that shows what the FMS will report to the robot.

-Joe

[Robotman]

Is there a direct correlation between the three end positions and the arena Launch Pads?

Thanks

[Mark McLeod]

No. Launchpad start positions will be negotiated betwwen Alliance drive teams before the match.
But this forum doesn't address game rules questions.

[JMorrison]

Is there a way for the robot program to detect its launch-pad position? That would obviously be useful for autonomous mode.

It's unclear what the robot would do with the driver base position number.

[Joe Hershberger]

Is there a way for the robot program to detect its launch-pad position? That would obviously be useful for autonomous mode.

It's unclear what the robot would do with the driver base position number.

No there isn't a way since the teams on the alliance decide amongst themselves where the robots get placed.

I don't know why you would care where your driver station is plugged in either, but that is all that can be known.

[DrTomBlinn]

What most teams do so the robot program can detect its launch pad assignment is to attach a numeric input device (e.g., thumb wheel switch) to either the DS or input on the robot, and set the start position with the input, so it can be read with software.

Bear in mind that you need to have it set and read it while still disabled if you need to use the data during autonomous mode (this is obvious once you think about it).

There is probably no reason why the field management software could NOT provide the robot start position information, but it would be a manual task for the field managers to perform at a time when they are really busy with other tasks, and the stakes are high, so making it be the responsibility of the teams to get it right makes sense to me.

I do realize there are technologies that could be used to have the FMS read the team number from some device installed on the robot (RFID tags, for example), but getting that implemented and deployed and managing it would be a challenging task, and the low tech ways work pretty well.

Tom

[Alan Anderson]

Is there a way for the robot program to detect its launch-pad position?

Look at the distribution of trailer targets using the camera. You'll see a nearby one right in front of you if you're in front of the outpost. You'll see an alliance partner and an opponent far away, one to the left and one to the right, depending on which airlock position you're in front of.

That's the only way I can think of for the robot to deduce where it is. You can of course tell it explicitly, either with switches on the robot itself or by using the the Operator Console.

[DrTomBlinn]

I like the trailer targets suggestion. It might be possible to make it work this year, but if there are no trailers or targets in next year's game, that would be a problem next year.

A really good solution would probably need to be designed by FIRST so that it would be part of the overall game and field architecture and continue to work from year to year.

But that's just my opinion.

Tom