Tutorial 16: Easy autonomous

You will build: an autonomous written as a list of named steps: grab, drive, lift, drop, park. The main track’s autonomous is built on EasyAuto and is shorter still: Your first autonomous.

You will learn: how EasyAuto turns an autonomous into a list of named steps, how to add INIT choices, how red/blue mirroring works, how to keep time for parking, and how to read the report.

You need: a tuned drivetrain (tutorial 09: RobotSettings with calibrationConfirmed = true), a motor lift, a servo claw. Tutorials 09, 10, 14.

Full program: Tut16EasyAuto.java Reference: auto.md. Guide: Easy autonomous modes.

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1. Compare with tutorial 10

Tutorial 10’s autonomous had: an INIT loop with a menu, mirroring by hand (side), a loop hook, waiting loops with time limits, finally cleanup, a pose hand-off. All needed, all the same in every autonomous. EasyAuto does all of it; you write only what is special about THIS autonomous.

2. Tell it about the robot

extends EasyAuto means your class starts with everything EasyAuto already does. You only fill in the parts it asks for.

public class Tut16EasyAuto extends EasyAuto {
    private PositionMotor lift;
    private PositionServo claw;

    // drive, autonomous tuning and IMU, all from RobotSettings: the same as TeleOp (tutorial 20)
    @Override protected RobotConfig robotConfig() { return RobotSettings.config(); }

    @Override protected Subsystems createSubsystems() {
        lift = PositionMotor.create(hardwareMap, "lift")...;
        claw = PositionServo.create(hardwareMap, "claw")...;
        return new Subsystems().add(lift, claw);
    }

@Override means “I am filling in a method EasyAuto asks for”. RobotSettings.config() hands over the drive, tuning and IMU settings from tutorial 09 as one object (a RobotConfig); tutorial 20’s TeleOp uses the same one. The mechanisms you return are updated every loop during every step, so a lift keeps holding while the robot drives.

3. INIT: placement and choices

@Override protected String startPosition() {
    return "Back wall, touching the left edge of the 2nd tile, facing out";
}
@Override protected void addChoices(InitMenu menu) {
    menu.choice("Route", "Score", "Park only");
}
@Override protected double parkReserveSec() { return 4; }

The INIT screen shows the placement (so the drive team sets up right), the menu (alliance, delay, Route, profile), and warnings.

4. The steps

@Override protected void buildRoutine(AutoRoutine r) {
    r.step("Grab", claw.goToStep("CLOSED"))
     .move("Off the wall", 4, 0, 0.4);

    if (choice("Route").equals("Score")) {
        r.step("Lift starts up", lift.startStep("HIGH"))
         .move("To the goal", 24, 0, 0.6)
         .turn("Face the goal", 45, 0.5)
         .waitUntil("Lift is up", lift::isAtTarget, 2.0)
         .step("Drop", claw.goToStep("OPEN"))
         .waitFor("Let it fall", 0.3)
         .step("Lift down", lift.startStep("DOWN"))
         .turnTo("Square up", 0, 0.5);
    }

    r.thenPark()
     .move("Park", 20, 90, 0.7);
}

Read it out loud: it IS the plan. Things to notice:

• Labels show on the Driver Station during the run and in the report. Make them say what the robot does.
• startStep vs goToStep: lift.startStep("HIGH") starts the lift and goes on at once; it rises while the robot drives. claw.goToStep("CLOSED") waits until the claw should be closed.
• waitUntil has a time limit (2 s). If the lift never gets there, the routine goes on and the report says “timed out”.
• Mirroring: written for BLUE. On RED, turn(45) becomes -45 and move(20, 90) goes left. On a field turned half a turn between the alliances (BIOBUZZ), override mirrorForRed() to return false: the same route works for both.
• Park: everything before thenPark() stops when 4 s are left; Park always runs.

Run it

1. INIT: read the placement line. Choose BLUE, Route = Score. START.
2. The screen shows “Step 4/11 To the goal” and the time left.
3. At the end: the report. Is every step “done”?
4. Run as RED: it turns the other way and parks to the left.
5. Choose “Park only”: just grab, off the wall, park.
6. Override maxStartDelaySec() (write your own version of it, with @Override) to return 25 (the menu stops at 10 s), then set a 25 s start delay: the main steps are skipped (“skipped (time for park)”) but it still parks.

If something goes wrong

Problem	Fix
“AUTONOMOUS IS OFF: the drive is not tuned yet” in INIT	tune with tutorial 09, then set calibrationConfirmed true in RobotSettings.auto()
Lift sags while driving	the lift is not in createSubsystems()
A step says STALLED	something was in the way, or the power is too low to move
“timed out” on Lift is up	the lift is slow: tune it, or give waitUntil more time
RED does something strange	a step uses a number that should not be mirrored: use run(...) or alliance()

Try this

1. Add a choice “Pieces: 1/2” and a second scoring trip for 2.
2. Use rememberHeading before scoring and returnToHeading after.
3. Make a second autonomous class with a different route, sharing the robot setup through a base class (like the starter kit’s StarterAuto).

Next

Tutorial 17: Launcher