Re: pic: Game hint
 

well I can try to answer that for you.

1.Teaching instruction can be so you can set-up your own field much like every other year (the KOP came with cathodes last year to set up your own field)

2. If the competition were, say, switching the goal colours during the match, you would have to have something to switch your own colour on your own field.

3. We haven't got it ethier :(

Re: pic: Game hint
 

1. The IR frequencies might be controlled by the field, but you can't play with the board and get it working unless you can use it with whatever controller you happen to have laying around...so you need to be able to "teach" it. And perhaps the field personnel or someone else will have to "teach" it something before the competitions or matches.

2. Good question!

3. Same reason our team has not received ours yet....that's how the shipping process works. This is a fun way to teach us patience.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

ill find out tonight if we got ours :)

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Our senior mentor forwarded the email; she didn't mention if she got a package.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

My apologies if this has been previously stated, but I read through 11 pages of this thread and concluded that you guys talk ALOT.

Is this legit?
The unfathomable scenario of a late or forgotten part in the KOP would have been discovered probably in this exact time frame, probably just after they shipped some of the KOP boxes off to their coinciding Kickoff venues. At this point, someone at FIRST got the bright idea to turn this logistical blunder into one of the best-conceived baiting game hints ever.

However it's also interesting (but maybe coincidental) that this is released the weekend before the end of registration for new teams.

My hypothesis is that it's for 4 different light colors and will replace or enhance that hard-to-calibrate green light/CMUCam setup.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Me? Think too hard? Never. lol
Ask anyone who knows me, that's not my style.
:p :rolleyes:

I was just having some fun with numbers. I could pull a million little "facts" like this from just looking at the board & Googling things (and I have), but thought the levels connection would stir up some lively conversations. :D


By the way, what are the chances this intergrates with the USB chicklet?
Any takers on that theory, or is it even possible to use both simutaneously in a system of some sort?

Re: pic: Game hint
 

You can use them simultaneously, depending on what you do with them. The chicklet doesn't care what it controls; it just translates digital into analog. The IR board, if used for the robot at all, very likely will not be connected to the OI at all. So it is just another sensor on the robot. It won't integrate with the Chicklet--the Chicklet only knows about USB; the IR board is just a single pulse on a wire.

I'm really, really interested to see how this ties in. It would be really cool to interface with on the robot...especially if the alpha-quality code I wrote this morning actually works with it flawlessly...:D

JBot

Re: pic: Game hint
 

In light of the fact (no pun intended...ok maybe pun intended) that we've been mailed an actual component instead of a cryptic riddle or image, I think that mostly everyone is totally justified in speculating what the IR sensor means in terms of its function & possible applications...

But I can't shake the feeling that a symbolic reading of the thing, like Simon says, might turn out to have value, too, though it may be a longshot. I dunno, maybe I'm just stubborn to adjust to this hands-on hint style, but I wouldn't put it past the GDC to pack some symbolism into these lovely December gifts. That said, I have nothing else to add to the ultraviolet interpretation. (Except...Milla Jovovich...)

Other peoples' ideas that I think I like (forgive me for no citation):

1) The 4 signals could mean more than one autonomous task during the game, at certain times during a match the field would switch all robots to another channel...but my issue with this is that multiple autonomous options is probably beyond the capabilities of a fair # of teams...maybe there would be other tasks for robots who aren't packing multiple autonomous modes, and those robots' channel 3 would just remain driver control, for example. But then that's a LOT of stuff going on in every match...

2) The 4 signals could determine zones, a la 2002's Zone Zeal except not pre-determined zones. And for teams that don't capitalize on using this IR board, since it's not characteristic of FIRST to make aspects of the game that some teams will be totally shut out from doing (any previous use of the camera or IR follow-the-line sensor in autonomous could attempt to be mimicked by a dead reckoning autonomous), maybe after some seconds have elapsed, whatever invisible indication has been given via IR will become visible for everyone else.

Maybe, the zone layout will be concentric circles, and/or IR transmitters on the field will be positioned like planets...and/or the IR transmitter will be in the center of the field and whatever goals/scoring elements will be scattered around like planets. I'm just grasping at the aforementioned possible Sun idea.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

And now for some anti-speculation of sorts. In my opinion, this isn't going to be useful outside of autonomous mode. Or at least only marginally useful. Why? because if it was exceedingly useful outside of autonomous, it would have to be indicating something on the field that drivers and the audience couldn't see. And any scoring method or game influencing state that's invisible to the audience will drive them absolutely batty and quickly frustrate them. Similarly, I fully expect that whatever this indicates during autonomous mode will be readily apparent to spectators. And thus could be potentially determined by the robot by other means. It's just that those other means are probably going to be a lot more complex and less reliable.

This is all assuming, of course, that this is something we put on the robot to find out about something on the field.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

That's right, it could just be overstock that they are giving away because no one will buy it :)

Re: pic: Game hint
 

This was discussed in about the first 11 pages. Consensus is that it is legit. The main reason for thinking it isn't is that some teams don't have theirs yet.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Anyone thought of the possibility of a IR sensor on the robot to see in darkened conditions?
This would cut some costs as far as field lighting is concerned as well. :yikes:
Rather than making a target of some kind brighter (ie: going from a painted green panel to a bright light), do the opposite, & make the field darker.

In the past a lot of technology that has been introduced in the kit is a low cost and/or stripped down version of what the big names in science & technology have used.
(oh.. i don't know.. like NASA for instance?) ;)


On that note, do some googling of the word "QWIP" & "NASA".
Some interesting stuff happening there, even if it isn't directly tied in with what we will be doing with IR.

But who knows for sure? :confused:



I'll tell you who knows.
The Shadow knows! :rolleyes:

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Strangely I got the e-mail for 1 of my 2 teams that I am the team leader for. I Used to get 2 of every e-mail now I only get 1. It may be because we still have to pay for the second team. I called our receiving department today to see if I got it & the FedEx truck hasn't come in yet. I'll let you know if & when it/they come in.

As for the uses... we'll see.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

I completely agree with this statement. I can see it being a replacement for the camera so that more and more teams can do auto mode (as far as I have heard this thing is easier to program) I can also see it being used for bonus points (end game).

If we end up having a game with invisible pieces or invisable zones or what-not, the crowd will not being nearly as "in to it" as they normally are.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

I think this is the 3 colored light thing from '06 ATL. I think that the IR will be for robots and that the "signals" (light, radio, etc.) that the field piece(s) will give off will not be consistent throughout game play. Anybody find this a reasonable assumption?


/Pavan