The UAV competition is going through a change. Due to popular demand, the need for a user friendly competition, and not having to build anything special or modify your craft, we are going to do a Balloon Cutting/Popping Event. How we will set it up will be in the same field and layout as before, except that we will have three rows of four balloons. The closest will be white, and worth 1 point. Then silver worth 2 points, and Gold will be the furthest out and worth 3 points. The balloons will be held in place by streamers, and the goal is to either pop the balloon, or cut the streamer, both resulting in the points be awarded to you. The flight time is going to be five minutes, and an air horn will be sounded to signal start time and end time. The person with the most points at the end wins!! I will post an updated map area with the balloon layout shortly.
The UAV competition is going through a change. Due to popular demand, the need for a user friendly competition, and not having to build anything special or modify your craft, we are going to do a Balloon Cutting/Popping Event. How we will set it up will be in the same field and layout as before, except that we will have three rows of four balloons. The closest will be white, and worth 1 point. Then silver worth 2 points, and Gold will be the furthest out and worth 3 points. The balloons will be held in place by streamers, and the goal is to either pop the balloon, or cut the streamer, both resulting in the points be awarded to you. The flight time is going to be five minutes, and an air horn will be sounded to signal start time and end time. The person with the most points at the end wins!! I will post an updated map area with the balloon layout shortly.
-Nick
I apologize for being so constantly negative, but if the point of the contest is to cut the balloon free wouldn't that result in lots of balloons drifting away, ie litter?
I apologize for being so constantly negative, but if the point of the contest is to cut the balloon free wouldn't that result in lots of balloons drifting away, ie litter?
Extra points if you can hit the balloon that's floating away!
Much progress on the line following course has been made! Inclement weather and busy work schedules has prevented us from properly laying the course out. Photos and a full description will be posted tomorrow afternoon. Its going to be a sweet course, done in fine Parallax style . I can't wait to spill the beans on it when its time.
To give you an idea of scale, the 555 Timer is 32 feet tall x 20 feet wide. All sharp corners will be rounded off following the 3 in minimum radius rule.
@Erco: Start = the Reset line. Finish = pulse output that is driving the lamp (on the right).
@Beau: Staff is most definitely welcome to run bots on the course...just not while the contestants are running (except for the annoying ones - you can torment the annoying robots). Haha
Kevin and Nick were talking about modifying their contest rules to give extra credit for air-based line following... .
Is the line still going to be one inch wide HVAC tape?
Have you tried to make a three inch circle with tape?
It can be done, but it's not pretty...
I cut thru 3/4 of the tape in half a dozen places, and needed an extra set of hands to lay it down,
So, it's not impossable, but those little wrinkles were troublesome until I raised the QTI's, and adjusted
my code for the extra height...
So I was wondering if there is a secret to laying tape into a sharp turn?
I finally gave in and just cut segments of tape and pieced the corner together...
I used cheap colored duct tape, not the expensive HVAC tape which is more shiny and smooth...
Needs work, but I never tried to make a bot follow a line before.. It's strangely addicting.
And it's fun to watch, kinda like HexBugs, if you know what those are...
Anyway, However you lay the tape down, it will be a hoot to watch everyones robots in action, I can hardly wait.
I don't see any rules about having to program the robot yourself.
My wife is considering entering one of my her robots (I haven't told her she's considering it yet). Mainly because I want to try two different methods of line following. One with normal IR sensors (her robot) and the other with some sort of machine vision (though I'm not sure I can get this to work)(my robot).
Is it kosher for my wife to enter one of my her robots? She'll be there to press the button to start it and she might decorate it a bit, but I'll build it and program it for her (aren't I a nice husband?). Her robot will probably be a PropBOE-Bot.
Nine million, nine hundred ninty nine thousand, nine hundred and ninty nine minutes of Robot line following video,
and my video adds one more 1 minute... You would grow old and die before you could watch all those...
MattG, How many entrants are there so far?
By the looks of all those videos, there should be at least 1000 or so.
Duane, I think in order to be a fair run, Your wife should remain present for the entire 200' run.
That would be a long time for my wife to remain attentive to a robot...
Duane, I think in order to be a fair run, Your wife should remain present for the entire 200' run.
I think it's fair now because my wife helped pick the colors to make new tires for the PropBOE-Bot (and picking colors is more than half the work of making a robot, right?). I didn't want to use the normal rubber bands so I'm trying to make tires out of Sugru. I'm not very confident with this first atempt. I don't think I got the tire completely round.
I think I'll break out my hobby lathe for my next attempt at making tires.
Well.. if she picked the colors then, yes of course it's "Her" robot...
If you have a hobby lathe that has decent speed control, you should be able to spin some disc's of sugru'
Or maybe turn a tire form/jig, and then press the stuff into the form?.
Ok, since there is a shortage of line following video on YouTube, I thought I could add one more...
Hey wait a minute... I thought we weren't allowed to have weapons.
Oh well, back to the drawing board for me, I need to work out some control issues...
Fortunately, My attorney managed to defer the court date until after UPEW, So there is still time...
Any route? It's very short from pin 4 to pin 8 to pin 3 along the 555 square.
That is what I was wounding too. I think now that the course is nailed down, some of the rules may not apply? Still wounding about speed... Should I design to be very exact or fast? Hmmm. Can I get extra points for blinking a Lamp over the Lamp symbol?
Comments
-Nick
John Abshier
I apologize for being so constantly negative, but if the point of the contest is to cut the balloon free wouldn't that result in lots of balloons drifting away, ie litter?
Extra points if you can hit the balloon that's floating away!
Sounds like "Seek and destroy". Things are getting interesting!
Much progress on the line following course has been made! Inclement weather and busy work schedules has prevented us from properly laying the course out. Photos and a full description will be posted tomorrow afternoon. Its going to be a sweet course, done in fine Parallax style
Talk to you soon,
Daniel
What happens if the weather is "inclemental" for EXPO?
April showers bring May flowers and Expo headaches.
Easy. We'll just have Matt laser up some inclemental encoders to compensate for the weather.
-- Gordon
That's exactly what he said... I thought it was funny.
So, here is a good aerial shot of the course:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Hmwls6n1AE
To give you an idea of scale, the 555 Timer is 32 feet tall x 20 feet wide. All sharp corners will be rounded off following the 3 in minimum radius rule.
Where is the start & finish?
@Beau: Staff is most definitely welcome to run bots on the course...just not while the contestants are running (except for the annoying ones - you can torment the annoying robots). Haha
Kevin and Nick were talking about modifying their contest rules to give extra credit for air-based line following...
Don't make this sound too easy. I really don't have time to get sidetracked on a diversion like this.
Plywood & relays all good?
Is the line still going to be one inch wide HVAC tape?
Have you tried to make a three inch circle with tape?
It can be done, but it's not pretty...
I cut thru 3/4 of the tape in half a dozen places, and needed an extra set of hands to lay it down,
So, it's not impossable, but those little wrinkles were troublesome until I raised the QTI's, and adjusted
my code for the extra height...
So I was wondering if there is a secret to laying tape into a sharp turn?
-Tommy
I used cheap colored duct tape, not the expensive HVAC tape which is more shiny and smooth...
And it's fun to watch, kinda like HexBugs, if you know what those are...
Anyway, However you lay the tape down, it will be a hoot to watch everyones robots in action, I can hardly wait.
-Tommy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Ev2ZRHD2w80#!
My wife is considering entering one of my her robots (I haven't told her she's considering it yet). Mainly because I want to try two different methods of line following. One with normal IR sensors (her robot) and the other with some sort of machine vision (though I'm not sure I can get this to work)(my robot).
Is it kosher for my wife to enter one of my her robots? She'll be there to press the button to start it and she might decorate it a bit, but I'll build it and program it for her (aren't I a nice husband?). Her robot will probably be a PropBOE-Bot.
Check this 3pi video. OK to start at 2:00. Snappy turns and it accelerates to a higher speed in longer straights. Quite impressive.
and my video adds one more 1 minute... You would grow old and die before you could watch all those...
MattG, How many entrants are there so far?
By the looks of all those videos, there should be at least 1000 or so.
Duane, I think in order to be a fair run, Your wife should remain present for the entire 200' run.
That would be a long time for my wife to remain attentive to a robot...
-Tommy
I think it's fair now because my wife helped pick the colors to make new tires for the PropBOE-Bot (and picking colors is more than half the work of making a robot, right?). I didn't want to use the normal rubber bands so I'm trying to make tires out of Sugru. I'm not very confident with this first atempt. I don't think I got the tire completely round.
I think I'll break out my hobby lathe for my next attempt at making tires.
If you have a hobby lathe that has decent speed control, you should be able to spin some disc's of sugru'
Or maybe turn a tire form/jig, and then press the stuff into the form?.
Ok, since there is a shortage of line following video on YouTube, I thought I could add one more...
-Tommy
All good though, I've got some secret weapons....
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/23/tacocopter-startup-delivers-tacos-by-unmanned-drone-helicopter_n_1375842.html
Oh well, back to the drawing board for me, I need to work out some control issues...
Fortunately, My attorney managed to defer the court date until after UPEW, So there is still time...
-Tommy
That is what I was wounding too. I think now that the course is nailed down, some of the rules may not apply? Still wounding about speed... Should I design to be very exact or fast? Hmmm. Can I get extra points for blinking a Lamp over the Lamp symbol?
ms