Coordinate Waypoint Planner
Field coordinates in, drive distances and turns out. The arithmetic between a route sketched on paper and the numbers a program needs.
Inputs
Measure from one corner of the field. X across,Y up the field, both in inches, both 0 to 144. Headings are compass style: 0° faces +Y, 90° faces +X.
Which way the robot faces before it moves.
Reversing often turns a 170° spin into a 10° nudge.
Results
Total drive distance
—in
Total turning
—°
Legs
—
Longest leg
—in
Sharpest turn
°
Waypoints off the field
—
Leg by leg
| Leg | From | To | Turn | Then drive | New heading | Cumulative |
|---|
How this is calculated
Each leg is a right triangle between two points, so the distance and the direction both fall out of the coordinates:
distance = √((x₂ − x₁)² + (y₂ − y₁)²) heading = atan2(x₂ − x₁, y₂ − y₁) turn = heading − current heading, folded to ±180°With your numbers
Folding to ±180° is what stops the plan telling you to spin 350° left when 10° right would do. If reversing is allowed, each leg is also checked facing backwards, and whichever needs less turning wins.
Coordinates beat dead reckoning
Writing a route as "forward 24, turn right 90, forward 36" bakes every number into the order of the steps. Move one goal and the rest of the route has to be recalculated by hand.
Coordinates hold the intent instead. Change one waypoint and everything downstream updates, which is also why odometry-based programs are easier to adjust than distance-based ones.
What this does not model
Straight lines between points, with a stop and a point turn at each one. That is the simplest thing to program and the easiest to debug, but it is not the fastest way round a field. A route that curves through its waypoints covers slightly more ground in noticeably less time, because it never stops.
Nothing here knows where the field obstacles are either. A straight line between two waypoints may pass through a goal.
Sources & assumptions
The field is 144" square, which is used only for the off-field check. Everything else is trigonometry on your own coordinates.
Assumes point turns at each waypoint and no wheel slip. Real distances drift, so treat these as the numbers to start from and then correct against the robot.
Save this run, and compare
Keeps what is on screen so you can change something and see both sides of the change. Saved in this browser only, never uploaded.
Save this as evidence
Collects what you entered, what came out, how it was worked out, and anything the tool flagged, with a timestamp and a version so someone else can reproduce it.
This is evidence, not a notebook entry. It deliberately does not write your problem statement, your reasoning, or your conclusion, because under RECF rules an Engineering Notebook has to be the students' own work and no tool may generate or organise its content. Take the numbers, decide what matters, and write it yourself.