
Re: Which is better: gyroscope+accelerometer or shaft encode
I'm an FTC team member, but this should still apply

From my extremely limited experience, the TETRIX encoders we have are pretty accurate, but inferring position estimates from them quickly degenerates into dead-reckoning (<-- avoid at all costs!).
Which gyro+accel combination are you using? We're planning on coupling
this with a prototype board, but I doubt that we're fusing the accelerometer data. From what I've heard, if you can get your head around the
Kalman Filter, you'll be fine.
Gyroscopes are accurate for short time frames, but tend to "drift" away from the true position over time. Accelerometers, on the other hand, are "noisy" (i.e. give inaccurate readings) but don't drift. Which is why they're usually sold in combination

Some are even packaged with magnetometers, although I tend to wonder how accurate those are next to so many motors.
_________________FTC Team 6424, the 'Oly Cow - Chief programmer.
FRC Team 4450, Olympia Robotics Federation (ORF).
and also quadrotors. Quadrotors!