Automatic Balancing (FTC)

The Automatic Balancing example demonstrates how to implement a self-balancing robot, which can be useful to help avoid a robot tipping over when driving.  As an example, FRC team 263 demonstrated the auto-balance feature effectively during the 2018 FRC Championships.

The basic principle used in the example is based upon measurement of the navX-Micro Pitch (rotation about the X axis) and Roll (rotation about the Y axis) angles. When these angles exceed the “off balance” threshold and until these angles fall below the “on balance” threshold, the drive system is automatically driven in the opposite direction at a magnitude proportional to the Pitch or Roll angle.

Note that this is just a starting point for automatic balancing, and will likely require a reasonable amount of tuning in order to work well with your robot.  The selection of the magnitude of correction to apply to the drive motors in response to pitch/roll angle changes could be replaced by a PID controller in order to provide a tuning mechanism appropriate to the robot.

FTC Android Example