Competition 20161103 - SouthpawRobotics/479C-2016-2017 GitHub Wiki

This was the first competition that we have participated in this competition season. Due to paperwork issues we were not on the roster and instead competed in the slot of a team that did not show up to the event at all. This meant while the other team still got marked as a no-show, we got to practice without any of the match scores affecting our ranking. Essentially we did not go to this event. While this must be fixed before the next competition it was still a valuable learning experience.

Despite having difficulties passing inspection, our alliance won 2/4 matches that we were in, including the one against 479D. The first match did not go very well because half of the drivetrain was backwards which could be corrected by the driver but was very difficult and made the robot hard to control. In the second match we somehow managed to pull off the win despite being mostly useless. Our strategy for that match was solely to move the stars from the far zone to the near zone, reducing the number of points they were worth. In the third match however we learned that we were able to push the stars under the fence, allowing us to score some points in favor of our team, rather than just reducing the score of our opponent. Despite this we still lost the match. Our final match was against 479D, another robot from our school. Despite 479D having an arm that could lift stars over the fence and our robot stopping in the middle of the match, we won that one as well.

What went well

• We got practice operating the robot under competition conditions.
• We won two of our matches.
• We learned a method of scoring that does not require any special apparatus.

What did not go so well

• The robot was too big to pass inspection resulting in a rush to get the robot cut down to size and the removal of the arm.
• When we went on the field for our first match the code had not been tested resulting in some of the drive train being backwards.
• The autonomous was hastily added and therefore not properly calibrated, however this did not noticeably detriment the performance of the robot during driver control.
• We did not have ample charged batteries, we believe this is the cause of the robot failing during the final match with all status lights on the remote red.

What should be done

• Ensure that the robot and all components are able to pass inspection.
• Work more efficiently during meetings so that there is not a rush to get things ready during competition.
• Give more time for testing code so that what is put in the ring for the match is working properly.
• More time to code and calibrate the auto mode, hopefully adding sensors to allow for closed loop control.
• Locate the large stock of batteries that we have and keep them charged so that we do not run into the issue of not having enough batteries.