protecting the cmu camerra
 

I was just curious as to how teams protected the cmu camera last year from other robots. I think that the consensus is that the camera will be back and how to protect it is important.

Re: protecting the cmu camerra
 

The camera was designed so that the mounting holes aligned with those in a little black plastic box they sell at radio shack. You had to cut out a hole for the lense and the cable. I think this is what most teams did.

Re: protecting the cmu camerra
 

I was wondering how strong that little box is because our team did not use it last year. Is it strong enough for a competition?

Re: protecting the cmu camerra
 

We mounted ours inside a plastic project box. It was mounted inside the frame of our robot and protected in from by a piece of Plexiglas. Of course we ended up taking it off after only a few matches and went for the hanging Tetras instead.

Re: protecting the cmu camerra
 

The little black box is fine for protecting the camera. Just make sure you put the camera somewhere where it isnt going to be beaten to death (like not on the bumpers of your robot). We mounted our camera high at about 3 feet off the ground, and we never had any problems with damage or cables snagging. If you are putting the camera somewhere potentially damaging, one thing that helps is if its mounted with velcro, so if something hits it, the camera just bumps out of the way and is only scratched, not broken. Also, my team had problems with putting a clear piece of lexan in front of the camera for protection, I dont know why but it made the camera work worse. Maybe glare off the plastic.

Re: protecting the cmu camerra
 

One of the teams I saw at Purdue used a 4" PVC pipe with a slot cut so the camera had a limited view angle but was still well protected.

Re: protecting the cmu camerra
 

That would be Team 1501. The pipe was very durable as we took several hits on it but the camera was NEVER touched.
As for limited view angle. We could put our robot anywhere on the start line and find any of the Vision Tetras.

Re: protecting the cmu camerra
 

We made a box out of plexi glass. There is no way anyone can break through that. Of course, we did not end up using the camera.

Re: protecting the cmu camerra
 

We decided to go for something a little bit stronger and made our own protector for the cam. The housing itself took a fair amount of abuse, but no damage was ever done to the camera. *phew*.

1006 Camera Mount

Re: protecting the cmu camerra
 

[joshing] Hehe, ever see that 20 lb dead blow sledge of JVN's named "The Answer"? I think we've got a new question....;) [/joshing]

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad+blow+sledge

Re: protecting the cmu camerra
 

One team at our regional had their's protected inside an 8" piece of clear polycarbonate tubing. They said it was fairly expensive.

Ours on the other hand was protected by a cheap polycarbonate box that was sheared off during the semi-finals.

Expensive is relative.

Re: protecting the cmu camerra
 

Ours was made of aluminum pipe with a hole cut out with a lexan cover on it. You can find a pic of it here.

Re: protecting the cmu camerra
 

The Radio Shack project box's are quite durable in themselves, I use them for most of my hobby projects and they tend to take a heck of a beating. A bigger problem is in the mounting. If you are using those servos to control pitch and angle then you need to consider those too,not just the servo itself but the gears and mounting brackets you use. I guess thats where PVC tubing and Aluminum pipe really come in handy. Another possibility, if you want to pay, is a vandal protection camera dome. That way you don't have to substitute visibility for protection.

Re: protecting the cmu camerra
 

Here is a picture of 1501 camera mount:

Picture Here

Re: protecting the cmu camerra
 

I think that may have been 165. 165 had a great protector for their CMU camera last year. It seemed as if the camera was protectected by a cup. It was neat.

Re: protecting the cmu camerra
 

Yep, that's the one. Now if only I could find a picture...

Re: protecting the cmu camerra
 

We used a radioshack project box with a little hole cut out of it for the CMUCam to peek out of. The box was then mounted on servos so it could be rotated.

There was one match where we got whacked by another robot, the sensor (the bit with the lens) fell OUT of the circuit board that is the rest of the CMUCam, and was then RUN OVER by our robot. Luckily we were able to bend all the pins back with needle nose pliers and the camera worked just fine.

Re: protecting the cmu camerra
 

Done.

Re: protecting the cmu camerra
 

I don't know if anyone thought of this, but a plastic fish bowl.

Re: protecting the cmu camerra
 

What about using a system of mirrors and/or lenses as a periscope? This way the camera can be burried deep in the bowels of the robot where it is safe.