# Would automatic pit sensing be cheating?
**URL:** https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/would-automatic-pit-sensing-be-cheating/799
**Category:** Questions & Help
**Tags:** rules, antweight-150g
**Created:** [25 September 2026 17:16 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/would-automatic-pit-sensing-be-cheating/799 "2026-09-25T17:16:25Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Andrzej](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/u/Andrzej)
#### Post date: [25 September 2026 17:16 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/would-automatic-pit-sensing-be-cheating/799/1 "2026-09-25T17:16:25Z")
Hi Everyone,
I have a quick question to the community before I spend more time on this idea. From what I understand autonomous pit avoidance globally feels like grey area, but regardless of the rules, what is your opinion about a bot that could sense the pit and automatically stop so you don’t accidentally drive into one? Playing fair makes this hobby much more interesting so I would really appreciate everyone’s opinion.
Just for context, someone asked about autonomous battle bots couple of weeks ago and I mentioned I was thinking about pit sensing, now I actually tried and it worked a lot better than I expected. For now it only works for the front side but it’s really hard to make it fall and looks very promising:
[ ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0eDr84JZCUc)
I’m currently just taking part in PLANTS (and will never use this robot there) but slowly thinking of moving into the individual, less restricted category. The robot you see is just my prototype and mainly based on my poorly CNC’d PCB but I’m trying to experiment with a lot of ideas. Happy to write more about it if anyone’s interested but for now just wanted to know your opinion about the sensors.
Thanks in advance!
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### Author:  [@Dylan\_Furniss](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/u/Dylan_Furniss)
#### Post date: [25 September 2026 18:56 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/would-automatic-pit-sensing-be-cheating/799/2 "2026-09-25T18:56:03Z")
I’m not a pit guy but I dont see how you could object to this, it’s got clear disadvantages being the extra complexity and weight of the components, and the finished version is not fully autonomous I assume so you are driving aside from pit dodging assistance. Rule of cool is just another reason why you should do it, might need to get a couple opinions of people who are more fond of pits though as I’m rather biased
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### Author:  [@Tobbra\_best](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/u/Tobbra_best)
#### Post date: [26 September 2026 06:53 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/would-automatic-pit-sensing-be-cheating/799/3 "2026-09-26T06:53:43Z")
I think its cool as it would make some fight go on lo ger, leading to more intresting things rather than just going straight into the pit but your opponent still has ample opportunity to push you into the pit ao I think its a good idea 🙂
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### Author:  [@Craig](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/u/Craig)
#### Post date: [26 September 2026 07:00 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/would-automatic-pit-sensing-be-cheating/799/4 "2026-09-26T07:00:57Z")
very cool! rule-wise i doubt theres really anything wrong with it. only thing you may want to consider from an eo perspective is a remote override for the autonomous logic and build in a feature where it turns itself off if it loses signal (eg failsafing). @John’s robot Autonomouse may have some similar features
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### Author:  [@Andrzej](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/u/Andrzej)
#### Post date: [26 September 2026 13:19 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/would-automatic-pit-sensing-be-cheating/799/5 "2026-09-26T13:19:02Z")
Thank you, it will be definitely me driving, the software will just not let me go forward anymore.
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### Author:  [@Andrzej](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/u/Andrzej)
#### Post date: [26 September 2026 13:22 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/would-automatic-pit-sensing-be-cheating/799/6 "2026-09-26T13:22:03Z")
Thanks, it has still a lot of problems to solve (for example if someone flips me it will just keep going back because the sensor is now pointed at the ceiling), but for the pushing oponent it might actually work great. The magnets on both motors give them position so in theory it could also do ‘tracktion control’ trying to push back. One problem at the time though :).
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### Author:  [@Andrzej](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/u/Andrzej)
#### Post date: [26 September 2026 13:25 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/would-automatic-pit-sensing-be-cheating/799/7 "2026-09-26T13:25:07Z")
Thank you. I definitely want to have a way to override it and disable - there’s a lot of scenarios I can think of where it will cause trouble and probably even more I can’t really predict. Part of the reason I’m building my custom board is to have more inputs and outputs so it should be no problem.
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### Author:  [@Luke](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/u/Luke)
#### Post date: [26 September 2026 18:37 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/would-automatic-pit-sensing-be-cheating/799/8 "2026-09-26T18:37:30Z")
with a rear hinged flipper or self righting arm, reversing whilst self righting generally helps with getting the bot back on the ground faster, provided the wheels poke out of the back and touch the ground.
as someone that fights in a lot of sportsman events with pits, i say go for it… it wouldn’t be overpowered at all… i could still push you in the pit, as the robot would only save itself, if it has full control over everything, and wouldn’t be able to do much more than a competitor would, mid push towards the pit.
there is also the above mentioned cool points you would get.
adding a cool feature that works is usually generally well accepted provided its not too overpowered (EDF suction bots for exapmle, not banned but have a gentlemans agreement to not build as it makes for boring fights) and it sits within the rules for whatever league you are fighting in.
and personally, i tend to encourage innovation. whether thats a modification to your transmitter that helps with X or a tweak to your robot that helps prevent Y, i am all for it.
plus, it also beats seeing another robot that looks just like all the others
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### Author:  [@John](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/u/John)
#### Post date: [27 September 2026 11:08 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/would-automatic-pit-sensing-be-cheating/799/9 "2026-09-27T11:08:41Z")
Autonomouse was originally designed to be entirely autonomous. But I found that if it went full speed it would overrun its sensors and by the time it had detected the pit its momentum would carry it in. Well done to Andrzej for overcomming that. When it went slowly enough to avoid that problem it was’t competative. So I adopted a different approach. It drives autonomously at all times but if it’s heading for the pit I can trigger a sub program that backs it away and rotates it. So it’s not properly autonomous now but Semi-Autonomouse isn’t as good a name so I’m sticking with Autonomouse.
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### Author:  [@Luke](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/u/Luke)
#### Post date: [27 September 2026 14:21 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/would-automatic-pit-sensing-be-cheating/799/10 "2026-09-27T14:21:27Z")
i would actually love a fully autonomous robot, but not for events.
it would make for a fun training tool, a good thing to test new ideas against, or just something to fight when bored…
i have a friend currently working on a “dumb” autonomous robot… basically some strategically placed sensors (one same place as this to detect the pit) and instructions to find and engage movement it detects, with a few outcomes based on sensor data.
simmilar to sumo bots i think.
i am hoping i can get one for the above reasons.
he says parts wise, its pretty cheap to build, but i would happily part with some decent money to get something like this, as there are many uses i can find for it without it ever being entered into a competition.
i think the real price is the time spent coding and working out the flaws.
i actually think if he were to make one that really works well, maybe with a few difficulty/speed levels, and the price was reasonable enough, people would buy for a training tool, or just for an opponent to kill some boredom against
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### Author:  [@Andrzej](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/u/Andrzej)
#### Post date: [27 September 2026 19:33 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/would-automatic-pit-sensing-be-cheating/799/11 "2026-09-27T19:33:31Z")
Thank you, good point about reversing actually. ‘Gentleman’s agreement’ was the phrase I was looking for - that’s the whole reason for the post. I will definitely be releasing all the plans and electronic schematics as an open source once it gets to ‘presentable’ stage (hoping for it to be one PCB in near future) and would be very happy what people will do with it. There’s a lot of I/O to play with and enough processing power for countless number of sensors (not to mention code possibilities) which I think easily could be used to create a sparring partner.
For now I’m very positively surprised how it’s coming together although as you’ve mentioned - time spent to make it work is much more than I thought but luckily it’s just a hobby, no deadlines or stress involved. I’m hoping to start documenting the build here and eventually test the final version in one of the whiteboards.
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### Author:  [@Andrzej](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/u/Andrzej)
#### Post date: [27 September 2026 19:38 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/would-automatic-pit-sensing-be-cheating/799/12 "2026-09-27T19:38:26Z")
Thanks John, is your bot antweight? I was relatively lucky (relatively as I’ve used those sensors before) because I chose ToF sensors and also positioned them facing forward. In my mind there will be couple more in the final version (they use I2C so you don’t waste IO) but they’re definitely quick enough and given what happens in the arena best choice in my opinion.
To be honest the more I play with it I think your solution is the most optimal (semi automatic). There’s a lot of things that can go wrong when the robot gets hit or pieces are missing so the ability to switch the logic off is crucial. Hope to see your robot in action one day on one of the events.
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### Author:  [@TeamChiffChaffs7](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/u/TeamChiffChaffs7)
#### Post date: [27 September 2026 21:30 UTC](https://forum.bristolbotbuilders.com/t/would-automatic-pit-sensing-be-cheating/799/13 "2026-09-27T21:30:55Z")
Most builders have functions set to a switch (e.g. the jet engine 12lber? Hotshot has a switch which toggles wether the jet engine is on or not).