Advanced Techniques & Case Studies
Once your robot drives and scores, the next leap is precision and intelligence: closed-loop control that hits a target every time, swerve drive that moves in any direction, AprilTag vision that tells the robot where it is on the field, and data-driven strategy that wins alliance selection. This module is a deep dive into the techniques that separate competitive teams from the pack, each anchored in a concrete REBUILT case study with real parts (Kraken X60, CANcoder, Pigeon 2.0), real tools (SysId, PhotonVision, Statbotics), and real code. It is ambitious but reachable — this is your roadmap from 'it works' to 'it wins'.
Advanced Techniques & Case Studies closes the Getting Started with FRC guide as module 7 of 7, after Common Mistakes & Troubleshooting. At ~245 minutes across 5 lessons it is the longest module in the guide, which runs about 17 hours end to end.
In this module
5 lessons
Jargon check
FRC terms used in Advanced Techniques & Case Studies
- Swerve DriveA drivetrain where each wheel module can independently steer and drive, giving full omnidirectional movement.
- PID ControllerA feedback control loop (Proportional-Integral-Derivative) that drives a mechanism to a target by reacting to error.
- Alliance SelectionThe pre-playoff process where the top-seeded teams take turns inviting other teams to form playoff alliances.
- AllianceA group of three teams that play together on the red or blue side of a match.
- PhotonVisionFree, open-source vision software that runs on a coprocessor or Limelight for targeting and pose estimation.
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This is the Getting Started with FRC one — 5 lessons, about 245 minutes. The departments below run a module by the same name over completely different material.
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