Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

I noticed several teams this season are using flashlights as aiming aids for the driver-period of the game. Using the Halo the flashlight produces to help tell if the shooter is pointed into the goal.

I'm attempting to consider some options for my team at CMP to help us in aiming faster.

I have a few questions, What kind of flashlight did you use, where did you buy it and how well did it serve your team.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

1. A Cree LED
2. A mentor received it as a promotion. Similar LEDs can be bought from Mouser.
3. Instrumental in our success. The ability for the driver to keep his/her eyes on the robot at all times is priceless. While the light doesn't serve as a substitute for vision targeting through a camera or set points on an encoder, it provides a relative feedback system. Our drivers would use it as confirmation that the robot was in the place that we set the setpoints for. The coach can then keep tabs on the driver station to make sure everything is functioning. The idea here is like a laser sight on a gun to get a general idea of where you are pointing. The aiming through the "scope" of the gun was controlled by software.

The LED was connected to a limit switch on the robot and only turned on during aiming. The idea was to save battery and not annoy other drivers or the refs.

-edit-

We also put a reflecting tube around it to center the beam.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

We used a standard halogen bulb from radio shack, but the light source doesn't matter as long as it is bright enough. To further assist, we used a kaleidoscope with a unique pattern that was discernable and easy to line up. Our entire aiming system depended on this, and it was easy for the drivers to be able to see the target relative to the goal and fire.

So focusing the light source like a flashlight does is important.

I figured if we made our own we'd use LED's as the light source.

Currently 1772 doesn't have any form of vision feedback during driver control. I'm trying to come up with ways to fix that besides the camera setup that I used on 1102's robot. Which was similar to a chevron gun sight on COD.

Thanks for the input, if anyone else has suggestions, please don't hesitate to let me know. (:

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

Well, two of the world championship teams last year used a flashlight to aim at the baskets. 744 uses a camera feed to the driver station and with paint we created a .jpeg that just has a box the same shape as the vision target. Overlay this image at the "sweet spot" and you'll be golden. The decision for us happened because we wanted the option to auto aim in autonomous if we ever incorporated a floor pick-up (plus we used this last year), but either method is about as effective.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

We didn't bother narrowing anything and just strapped a car headlight to our robot cause that has a nice narrow point already.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

We decided against it this year because we figured it would just be faster to run into the bar than to spend time lining up and it's worked really well, so if you can do that I'd definitely recommend it. If you can't, they work very well and can help with open field lineups a ton, cite: 2012 winning alliance using 2 of them.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

Team 1649 used two 6 volt halogen flashlights that we bought from Home Depot during the Orlando Regionals. We bought two in order to reduce the voltage from the 12 volt battery. We had half of the voltage go to one of the flashlights and the other half of the voltage to the other flashlight. Our flashlights were very important they were our only way of aiming our shooter the team knew that when the flashlight was in the botom left corner of the three point goal that we would make the shot. Our flashlights also allowed us to watch the field the entire time, we didn't have to look at the computer screen to aim.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

Just like with headlights, be careful not to blind folks with your flashlight/headlight/...

We had one incident at a previous event where a team with a light temporarily blinded the opposing team while hanging. I was asked to check out the drivers box at the end of the match, and you could not see through the drier station due to the glare. This caused that team to miss their hang which is covered under R08:
R08ROBOT parts shall not be made from hazardous materials, be unsafe, cause an unsafe condition, or interfere with the operation of other ROBOTS.


Examples of items that will violate R08 include (but are not limited to):
A. Shields, curtains, or any other devices or materials designed or used to obstruct or limit the vision of any drivers and/or coaches and/or interfere with their ability to safely control their ROBOTB. Speakers, sirens, air horns, or other audio devices that generate sound at a level sufficient to be a distraction
C. Any devices or decorations specifically intended to jam or interfere with the remote sensing capabilities of another ROBOT, including vision systems, acoustic range finders, sonars, infrared proximity detectors, etc. (e.g. including imagery on your ROBOT that, to a reasonably astute observer, mimics the VISION TARGET)
D. Exposed lasers other than Class I.
E. Flammable gasses
F. Any device intended to produce flames or pyrotechnics

G. Hydraulic fluids or hydraulic components

Teams should provide MSD Sheets for any materials they use that might be considered questionable during ROBOT Inspection.

Emphasis was mine.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

And that is the exact reason I would recommend putting a cross-hair on the camera image instead of using a flashlight to aim.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

Unfortunately due to bandwidth restrictions..this could be a problem.
Camera feeds are the first thing that the FTA will shut off if the field goes nuts.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

As long as you make sure your alliance partners are running their cameras at sane resolutions and compression rates, you shouldn't run into an issue. Though, as this is the 1st year of bandwidth restrictions, your mileage may vary.
We have our camera running at 320X240 with 33% compression for a bandwidth usage of around 3mbps. The only issue we've had with bandwidth was Thursday at GKC where an alliance partner was running their Kinect camera 1920X1080 or some outrageous resolution.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

Just don't use a bright bulb. You don't need to have a bright light to put a unique target on the board to look at and fire at. Look at 180 and 25's aiming mechanism from last year. 1648's aiming mechanism wasn't very bright, but had a unique pattern that was visible from across the field.

I wonder if anyone from S.P.A.M. can tell me what they used last season on their RR robot. Can't argue with success.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

This was our photon cannon of choice.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

Did you do anything to it to narrow the beam or was it already narrowed the desired amount?

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

You can twist to adjust the beam on the Maglite. We used the light's narrowest beam setting.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

I never actually saw you respond to this until now, thank you very much! (:
Is there a reason why you chose not to use it again this season?

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

Sure. Shooting this year is a lot different than last year.

Last year there was no hard object to align with in the safe zone, the goals were only twice as wide as a ball, our camera tracking wasn't getting us close enough to be a consistent shooter, and camera alignment was taking too much time.

This year there is the pyramid, so lining up is easy to do manually. The goals are about 4 times as wide, so the margin for error is larger. Our camera tracking doesn't need to be nearly as precise, so it can be much faster.

Oh, and we do have a photon cannon on the bot this year. We just don't use it to align with the goal for normal shooting. =-]

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

COUGH. Full Court. COUGH.
1102 did it too. I know (;

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

Just to get clarification, do you have to wire up the flashlight to the power distribution on the robot from the main battery, or can you just use AA or AAA batteries in an isolated system? I've seen people do it both ways and I wanted to know whether that was legal or not. Thanks!

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

Yes, you can use those batteries, as long as they don't power anything else.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

I would not consider a flashlight a computing device.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

Just to be on the safe side, i would wire the flashlight to one of the WAGO connections on the PDB with a 5 amp breaker. If the flashlight is not designed to take 12 volts, see if you can solder a 7805 IC (or similar) with a heatsink on the flashlight's V-in line to drop the voltage down to 5 (or lower).

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

You have to do what's best for your team, of course, but our interpretation was that you CANNOT use separate batteries. It must be powered from the main battery of the robot in accordance to the wiring rules in the manual. There are multiple good ways to do this.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

You're right. I didn't read the "computing device" part. Should've ready what I emphasized more thoroughly :o .

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

Question about using a flashlight to line up at start of the match.

Based on this, are teams able to use a flashlight to quickly line up a shot, but not have it permanently attached to the robot?

Can we have it permanently mounted and powered by the bot but manually turn it off and on?

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

Some teams use a Zooming LED flashlight, smaller than the maglite.

Here is one example:
http://www.amazon.com/Ultrafire-Lume...led+flashlight

I have one of these flashlights, when you zoom it all the way in you get a very tight beam, which is a square, the shape of the emitter, and zoomed all the way out its a very wide flood so this flashlight could give you the ability to set a size you like.

I wired a couple up last year for teams (different flashlights from unknown origins), I bypassed the flashlight electronics and directly drove the LED with one of these so I can dim it and wire it to a spike so it could be turned on and off:
http://www.ledsupply.com/03023-d-e-500p.php

That particular flashlight has a Cree XML which you can drive at up to 3000ma, I use the dimming driver because then if its too bright you can turn it back, also I had concerns of overheating the emitter (Which never came to fruition since it was only turned on when aiming)

I believe SPAM wired theirs last year through one of the inverters like we get in the KOP for the radios, just basically hooking into where the C cell batteries normally go.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

Can you wire a flashlight to a spike, and then wire the spike directly to the 5V output on the PD board? Is that legal?

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

My team actually used a regular LED replacement for the amber lights you see on all robots, and used a magnifying glass to extend and increase the halo.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

As a custom circuit I can't think of any rules that would prevent it. However, it probably wouldn't work. A Spike is designed to run on 12 volts, and definitely will work down to 9, but I don't think its relay coils will function with only 5 volts powering it.

When experimenting with flashlights at the beginning of the season, we successfully used a small 5 volt relay, switching it using a Digital Output.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

An interesting case of light-based aim assistance came from team 188 last year. They had three class I lasers in a line above their shooter, with the outer two pointed inwards ever so slightly. They ran their shooter wheel at a constant speed, and would project the lasers into the center of the backboard. When the three beams would overlap, they would be at the perfect distance to take their shot (middle of the key). This proved to be a very consistent and easy to use system for their drive team.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

Thanks Alan. Would it be legal to go from 12V from the PD board to a spike, then from the spike to a 12v-5v converter, and then to the LED flashlight?

Is it legal to have more than one 12v-5v converter on your robot?

OR

Can I wire the robot radio to the dedicated 5v output on the PD board, and use the 12v-5v converter for the scenario above?

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

Don't ever, ever do this!

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

I can't think of any rules this would violate. That's exactly what the TechnoKats robot has on it right now. Except that the "12v-5v" converter we're using isn't the CPR-360 that came in the Kit of Parts; it's a car charger for a cell phone that was purchased for a dollar at Goodwill.

I can't think of any rules that require you to use exactly one of them.

You can do that, but it would be illegal, and it would be a bad idea anyway. The 5v camera output isn't protected against brownouts.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

Thanks Alan and Mark, much appreciated.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

Hi folks-

One of our student told me about this thread . I helped deploy team 3015 aspheric lenses Cree xre current regulated led aim point.

I'll provide a parts list and assembly directions to "do it right" from a led technology perspective .

And in regards to the rules causing obstruction ... it says "used"- if the intent is not there, mens rea, then there is no foul, IMHO.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

Can you please share the parts list and instructions to do it right? Do you have any images that are produced using your method?

Thanks in advance.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

To help clear up any concern over whether it's legal to have a really bright light, I'd like to make it clear that team 694 had a motorcycle headlight on the robot, and was so bright that the ref called us on it and made us take it off. We appealed to the FTA, and it went up to the GDC, who ruled that it was legal. So you can probably safely get up to the brightness of a motorcycle headlight without running into trouble with the rules.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

Again, I am tardy. This is a note I put together for Rob, one of those super mentors. It has links to parts.

I did receive in my new parts but have not had time to do anything other than bake them...

http://dx.com/p/12834 50mm aspheric element

http://dx.com/p/15234 JST cables for power/hookup

http://dx.com/p/cree-xr-e-q5-emitter...8lm-at-1a-2394 Cree XR-E emitter on star; 228L at 1A; better choices now available.

http://dx.com/p/3-6v-9v-800ma-regula...ds-4-pack-3256 Constant current regulators 4 pack (pretty robust items)

Blue RTV silicone http://www.amazon.com/Permatex-80022.../dp/B0002UEOKK (Bought it at an auto parts store)

Heat sink- can be anything, really- aluminum and some heat sink paste http://www.newark.com/wakefield-solu...eon/dp/23T0742

I am not totally certain about the heatsink- it is one of the wakefield units, I just can't remember the standard dimensions. It fit inside the schedule 40 pipe after filing.

Everything else was just soldered together., JST connectors were used on the regulator. Regulator was potted with RTV silicone and wrapped in Kapton tape. Entire unit could get too hot, eventually, and I swear it isn't as bright as we started.

Personally ordered some XM-L on star CREE diodes to put on there and a 3A buck regulator to make it brighter- about 4x- but I don't think the parts will come in time.

A good little hack-it-together flashlight.

Sorry for the delay in responding, am TDY in Arkansas.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

Again, I am tardy. This is a note I put together for Rob, one of those super mentors. It has links to parts.

I did receive in my new parts but have not had time to do anything other than bake them...

http://dx.com/p/12834 50mm aspheric element

http://dx.com/p/15234 JST cables for power/hookup

http://dx.com/p/cree-xr-e-q5-emitter...8lm-at-1a-2394 Cree XR-E emitter on star; 228L at 1A; better choices now available.

http://dx.com/p/3-6v-9v-800ma-regula...ds-4-pack-3256 Constant current regulators 4 pack (pretty robust items)

Blue RTV silicone http://www.amazon.com/Permatex-80022.../dp/B0002UEOKK (Bought it at an auto parts store)

Heat sink- can be anything, really- aluminum and some heat sink paste http://www.newark.com/wakefield-solu...eon/dp/23T0742

I am not totally certain about the heatsink- it is one of the wakefield units, I just can't remember the standard dimensions. It fit inside the schedule 40 pipe after filing.

Everything else was just soldered together., JST connectors were used on the regulator. Regulator was potted with RTV silicone and wrapped in Kapton tape. Entire unit could get too hot, eventually, and I swear it isn't as bright as we started.

Personally ordered some XM-L on star CREE diodes to put on there and a 3A buck regulator to make it brighter- about 4x- but I don't think the parts will come in time.

A good little hack-it-together flashlight.

Sorry for the delay in responding, am TDY in Arkansas.

Re: Use of Flashlight as Aiming Aid
 

There is a 78mm tumbler aspheric I am waiting for. The 66mm is much improved over the 50, but...dang... its big. Currently trying to get a 3d reprap or makerbot to knock out a holder instead of the PVC.

Oh, yes, you want to paint the inside of the tube the flattest black you can. You do not want spill - that blinds.