Robots With Decorative LEDs Onboard
 

This was my rookie year on team 2035 (The Rockin' Bots). I worked on decorative LED under-glow for the robot and I noticed other teams with decorative LEDs at both of the regionals we went to (Sacramento and Silicon Valley). If anyone could please reply with pictures of decorative LEDs that were on their robot that would be great. Could you also reply with more information on what brand of LEDs, how they were connected on your robot, what code was used to control it, what libraries (like Adafruit Neopixel), and how it decorated your robot? I am also searching for historical information as well, so if possible could you reply with information on past robots? In the end we will be putting together a paper on how LEDs have been used for decoration on robots and it would be great if we could have information on your robots in there! Also, if there are any other teams you know with decorative LEDs could you please reply with their team information? Thank you all so much!

Re: Robots With Decorative LEDs Onboard
 

There are all sorts of LEDs you can put on.the simplest method would be buying 12v LEDs and wiring them to the power distribution board.

If you want to control colors, you can use an Arduino or something like it.

We don't have underglow, but we do have eyes and some embellishment that is controlled with an Arduino and some addressable LEDs from sparkfun. It was not controlled by the robot, but there wasn't a need to for us this year.

As for teams that use LEDs, just search around on chief Delphi, there are plenty of posts on them

Re: Robots With Decorative LEDs Onboard
 

Here is the eye

Re: Robots With Decorative LEDs Onboard
 

That's pretty cool.

Re: Robots With Decorative LEDs Onboard
 

http://www.adafruit.com/products/306

I suggest this or something like this. Pro tip if you buy 5m worth it will come in 1 big roll so it is more flexible with what lengths you can make from it. With this you just cut in between 2 of the LED's where it says to and you can make as many strips from it as you like. Every light is addressable and I would suggest running through an arduino. Also keep in mind as soon as you cut it, it is no longer weatherproof (common sense but figured I would mention it).

-Nick

Re: Robots With Decorative LEDs Onboard
 

AndyMark also has this LED kit with example code.

Re: Robots With Decorative LEDs Onboard
 

Those LEDs are very similar to the ones we were planning on using this year. We connected them to a Arduino Micro and 3 amp 5v regulator. All of the parts are available through Adafruit, which is nice. They allow you to do all sorts of fancy patterns. Sadly we have not had time to connect them though. I might post the schematic later if anyone's interested.

Re: Robots With Decorative LEDs Onboard
 

Team 88 had quite a bit of fun with LED's this year!

Re: Robots With Decorative LEDs Onboard
 

Team 180 had red and blue LED antennas on ATLAS until we took them off at South Florida for weight. Now our drive coach Kurt (who does our LED work) wears them on a bag with a battery. But Atlas still has LEDs on his lexan

Re: Robots With Decorative LEDs Onboard
 

Team 4276's LEDs were not just decorative, but also functional. They would change color for driver situational awareness.

Nominally blue, when our shooter was pressurized they would go red, and when within correct shooting distance (based on sonar feedback) they go green.

For aesthetics, the driver could also switch to any of the primary/secondary colors in-match.

Re: Robots With Decorative LEDs Onboard
 

This was my team's first year doing robotics and luckily we had time to set up some awesome LEDs. They really make you stand out!(especially as a rookie) What we used was this kit from andymark. We attached them with Velcro so they can be removed easily and quickly in case we need to lose weight or we want to work on different patterns. The LEDs were programmed with an arduino using the FastLED library. They look awesome and didn't take too much time to set up. Here is a picture of them.

Re: Robots With Decorative LEDs Onboard
 

Reigning world champs 1477 Texas Torque had some really cool functional LEDs on their shooter last year.

During normal robot operation they were red. While the shooter was in range of the 3pt goal and calibrating the shot they flickered green and red quickly. When the shooter was calibrated and ready to fire they held green.

While the robot was disabled it had some cool lighting effects, as the LEDs were individually addressable.

Re: Robots With Decorative LEDs Onboard
 

Thank you all for your responses! This year our team had under-glow which flashed decorative colors while the robot was disabled, and a corresponding color to whichever alliance we were on the field. I used Adafruit Neopixel libraries with an Arduino. I connected the Arduino code to the cRIO with simplified network tables. The LEDs were not placed in the best spot because it was somewhat last minute, but I hope that next year we can do something even better!

Re: Robots With Decorative LEDs Onboard
 

For some LED Overkill check out 3574 High Tekerz.



The whole thing is controlled by Arduino, and they have all sorts of patterns and messages programmed to display. Most importantly, it makes Rainbows.

Re: Robots With Decorative LEDs Onboard
 

Hey, thank's for the shoutout! I'm one of the mentor's that helped with the design of this beast. It's got almost 600 leds and 100 watts of power. Technically though it's not that challenging or expensive. I think total cost for this was around $300, though I'm not sure what the lexan backing added to it. I'm an electrical/software guy, no need to be bothered by such mechanical pettiness :D

We open-sourced the controller board for the bling, here: http://hackcasual.io/blingboard/

I think the biggest challenge is simply making it a priority with a team. It's too easy to remove it when weight is near the limit or when time is too short. What that means for the committed bling-ophiles is that you'll stand out even more.

As a programming mentor of a STEAM team it's also important in 2 other ways. It's an immediate, and at this size, almost unlimited canvas for the more artistic students, and as an arduino compatible environment, it gives me something to work with the programming students on when the robot might not be available.


Also! I've got a few PCBs left from our production run. If you're in Portland this week, swing by and I might be able to equip any aspiring bling developers.