Subgroup Summary - Programming
When Catholic Memorial established the CyberSaders FIRST Robotics team in fall of 2015, I was eager to put my classroom programming knowledge into practice, and I could not wait to hear the challenge that the 2016 competition would present us.
Since this is our first year as a team, I was not sure what the best programming option would be to code our robot. I reached out to C.O.R.E. 2026 and Paradigm Shift 1259 to learn more about the programming strategies of experienced teams. We also had great mentors guide us through the process.
When we went to the kickoff in January and learned the details of the Stronghold challenge, I immediately started thinking about what could be possible from a coding standpoint. My programming team and I decided that we would make an attempt to score points in autonomous mode, a challenge for a rookie team.
Our first approach was to test the basics out with the SampleRobot class. As our team learned more about synchronizing the speed controls and motors with our code, we decided that the best path for us would be to use the IterativeRobot. However, the versatility of the CommandBasedRobot, especially in the autonomous mode, led us to focus on a command based approach, which certainly proved to be a great learning experience.
The biggest challenge that my team needed to overcome was communicating with the roboRIO controller via Ethernet. Unfortunately, the roboRIO we received was defective in this regard, and we needed to contact the manufacturers to obtain a replacement. This experience taught me so much about communication and problem-solving. Although this was a major setback, it strengthened our team in the end.
Towards the end of the build season we brought our robot to the Sussex Hamilton preseason scrimmage. It was so satisfying to see how our understanding and abilities have evolved. We even achieved our goal of scoring points in the autonomous mode.
I look forward to continuing our success at the FIRST competition this year and for years to come, and I know that what I have learned through FIRST has prepared me well for a major in computer science.
-- Ryan, Programming Captain
Since this is our first year as a team, I was not sure what the best programming option would be to code our robot. I reached out to C.O.R.E. 2026 and Paradigm Shift 1259 to learn more about the programming strategies of experienced teams. We also had great mentors guide us through the process.
When we went to the kickoff in January and learned the details of the Stronghold challenge, I immediately started thinking about what could be possible from a coding standpoint. My programming team and I decided that we would make an attempt to score points in autonomous mode, a challenge for a rookie team.
Our first approach was to test the basics out with the SampleRobot class. As our team learned more about synchronizing the speed controls and motors with our code, we decided that the best path for us would be to use the IterativeRobot. However, the versatility of the CommandBasedRobot, especially in the autonomous mode, led us to focus on a command based approach, which certainly proved to be a great learning experience.
The biggest challenge that my team needed to overcome was communicating with the roboRIO controller via Ethernet. Unfortunately, the roboRIO we received was defective in this regard, and we needed to contact the manufacturers to obtain a replacement. This experience taught me so much about communication and problem-solving. Although this was a major setback, it strengthened our team in the end.
Towards the end of the build season we brought our robot to the Sussex Hamilton preseason scrimmage. It was so satisfying to see how our understanding and abilities have evolved. We even achieved our goal of scoring points in the autonomous mode.
I look forward to continuing our success at the FIRST competition this year and for years to come, and I know that what I have learned through FIRST has prepared me well for a major in computer science.
-- Ryan, Programming Captain