Re: Can we use a gopro helmet camera?
 

Go pro cameras are getting really popular... I expect that more people will want to do this next year. They should defiantly mention it in the rule book.

Re: Can we use a gopro helmet camera?
 

...quickly reviews the external pneumatics pump rules....
:p

Re: Can we use a gopro helmet camera?
 

... so if we time the pneumatic venting just so, and have it pass an uncooled Victor...

Re: Can we use a gopro helmet camera?
 

We used it and the inspectors did not have a problem. I also saw at least 10 other teams using them. :-)

Re: Can we use a gopro helmet camera?
 

Bryson,
Your inspector did not have a problem with the method in which you mounted your camera and the way it was used. That is not a blanket statement that every cameras will automatically pass inspection.

Re: Can we use a gopro helmet camera?
 

Here are some POV movies I put together from the HD Hero 2 on out robot during build, calibration and at the Sacramento Regional.

Build and calibration, Practice day, and a compilation from all three days at Sacramento.

Re: Can we use a gopro helmet camera?
 

Hey Al,

What a great ad for GoPro cameras! ( this is a satirical opinion)

First judges that know
say you are ready to go
cause of the way you used GoPro.

Thanks now I am grabbin one for my kayak.

heh.::safety::

Re: Can we use a gopro helmet camera?
 

We had two GoPro cameras on our robot at Lake Superior, and our robot was inspected by "Big" Al, the head robot inspector for all of FIRST.

I think he was unaware of the Q&A cited earlier, because he said the camera need not be included in the BOM (we had done so). He also said it was not a COTS computing device. He classified it as a 'decoration' It does need to be included in weight, and it does need to be inspected for safety purposes and any other applicable rules.

Re: Can we use a gopro helmet camera?
 

I saw several used this past weekend. None on any robots that I reviewed, so I didn't have to make any decisions.

I'm familiar with the GoPro cameras, having lusted after one for use in my cycling hobby. I haven't broken down and bought one yet, but for use in the application on the robot, I don't think you could ask for better. There are several other, similar, helmet-cam setups that would be equally at home on a bot, so this isn't an endorsement of a particular brand.

Pluses are they are nearly indestructable (made for sports use) self-contained power, small, light, and getting pretty cheap. So they are coming close to meeting all concerns about use on the robot. The GoPro mounting hardware is also good. No worry about wire-tieing it on when you have a choice of several types of brackets.

I think in the future, these might be more specifically addressed in the rules. The benefits of making POV video during matches can only help promote FIRST and the excitement of the competitions. Teams can use the video in creative ways to promote their team and FIRST as well as to diagnose the robot and strategy.

As long as they remain self-contained and the team has the room in their weight and cost budgets, it seems like they are enhancing the competition more than doing any harm.

Re: Can we use a gopro helmet camera?
 

There is an additional bonus that we had not anticipated. While watching the video's after the matches, you can see exactly what the system was doing, sometimes the drive team didn't even realize they were doing it. Also, sometimes the audio reveals a problem you might not have noticed until a hard failure took place.

As examples: We noticed the co-pilot was cycling the shooter wheel when there was no need, he also had the ball collector running when there were no balls anywhere near. These two behaviors have an impact on driving by draining the battery needlessly.
We also noticed a quick drop out of the shooter wheel drive about 1 second before a shot in Autonomous. It came back up immediately and we made the shot, but without the video, we might not have diagnosed a logic issue in our code.

Re: Can we use a gopro helmet camera?
 

I provided GoPro videos to our local news station and they incorporated them into a story on our team (see the video story on the upper right.)

http://kaaltv.com/article/stories/S2...html?cat=10151

Re: Can we use a gopro helmet camera?
 

I put all of our go pro videos on this you tube channel:
http://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiwI..._rVp4ug/videos
I put them together with the recorded match using sony vegas.