Lights on Robot

[ptan]

Are lights allowed on the robots to assist in target alignment in operator mode?

I.e. can we put flashing lights on top of the robot that will light when it is in the right position to drop the ringers?

The lights would be driven by the RC.

Thanks.

Paul C. Tan., P.Eng.
Mentor and new to FRC

[Taylor]

Something else to consider is to put those lights on your controller instead of the robot. That way your drivers look very smooth and prepared, and I could see that flashing lights on the robot would serve as a beacon to the opposing teams to come defend you vigorously.

[Travis Hoffman]

Check out the Robot Feedback LED's on the Operator Interface. You can use these to signal your drivers that the robot is aligned (and no one on the other alliance has to know!).

You can use the RC to turn the Robot Feedback LED's on the OI on or off. The variables are already defined in the default MPLAB code. The variable names correspond to the descriptive labels printed on the Operator Interface:

OI Port 1 LED Output Variables:

Pwm1_green (Code: Pwm1_green = 1; //turns on the LED. 0 to turn off.)
Pwm1_red
Pwm2_green
Pwm2_red

OI Port 3 LED Output Variables:
Relay1_green
Relay1_red
Relay2_green
Relay2_red


If you want to, you can build your own LED lights into a custom button box (example (http://www.chiefdelphi.com/media/photos/23003)) and wire the LED's to LED output pins on OI Ports 1 and 3. These outputs will be controlled by the same custom RC code that turns the OI's Feedback LED's on and off. Check out the OI Reference Guide on ifirobotics.com for more information on how to do this:

http://www.ifirobotics.com/oi.shtml
http://www.ifirobotics.com/docs/oi-ref-guide-11-21-05.pdf

We always go to Radio Shack and buy the LED modules with built-in resistors for use on our team's button box. They always work out well. Red wire to desired LED output; black wire to any available Ground pin.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Check out the Robot Feedback LED's on the Operator Interface. You can use these to signal your drivers that the robot is aligned (and no one on the other alliance has to know!).


I agree, these LEDs can be used to great benefit. We used a system like this last year to show when the base was lined up to drop balls. The driver drove like normal, and the operator watched the LEDs for them to go all green. You can even add functionality to show where you need to drive beforehand!

[Donut]

Check out the Robot Feedback LED's on the Operator Interface. You can use these to signal your drivers that the robot is aligned (and no one on the other alliance has to know!).

Just remember if you use this, that the data for the LEDs is the same one used for the user byte if you display the user byte in the little LED display on your OI; they can't be used simultaneously. It took us half a competition to figure that out last year.

[pfreivald]

Are LEDs legal on the robot if used with optical sensors?

[ttedrow]

LED Light are permitted on the Robot as long a there are no other rules violations. Don't use green LED. They may interfer with other robot targeting systems.