Re: pic: Game hint
 

I thank you for the link blakcheez I just noticed something interesting!

http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc...t.aspx?id=6616 this is the 2008 email blast archieve! why isn't the game hint email here???

Re: pic: Game hint
 

That was brought up earlier. An answer is yet to be found, but so far this whole thing still seems legit. Could be dave working his defunct "magic" in the background...

Re: pic: Game hint
 

To follow up on the hint not really affecting anything outside of autonomous mode, I agree.

I really think that this hint won't affect the game for a lot of teams. If you think of Aim High and all the emphasis on the green light, many teams just used set angles and others positions where they knew they could make a goal.
For the Rack and Roll game the use of the green light again, could be avoided by teams who decided to just take a shot at dead reckoning. And others, didn't bother at an autonomous mode because the work on the camera would just be too much to handle.

Of course if the sensor, universal remote, or whatever crazy contraption that can help you find every goal imaginable would help during the game for certain advantages but in the end thats a lot of hype for something that only affects one aspect of the game (if it does happen to affect only autonomous mode that is).

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Can't be done. It's like when you're driving down the highway and see an accident on the other side. You know you should just keep going - but you've GOT to slow down and look. That's how it is with Dave's Head-Messing (DHM). You know you shouldn't waste time, but you try to figure it out anyway.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

oh I didn't get a chance to read all 27 pages lol. It wouldn't surprise me if Dave told the webmaster of the FIRST site to hold out on putting that email in the archieve for a couples days so we mention it and say its a hoax when it isn't!!!!!

When will it end
When will my mind be a peace now that a hint has arisen???





oh well it's super fun who needs sleep anyways:p

Re: pic: Game hint
 

BMW? like the car? why doesn't he use his actual name? (or is this just the whole game hint thing getting to my head?) :confused:

btw, 341 got the email but hasn't gotten the sensor yet.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

his name is in the first line :D Ben Wrightsman

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Without further ado:

Part
330 (Joe Ross) 1999 Hermosa Beach, CA
846 (SU 39) 2002 San Jose, CA
701 (Doug G) 2001 Fairfield, CA
237 (Elgin Clock) 1999 Watertown, CT
34 (Ed Sparks) 1997 Huntsville, AL
766 (razor95kds) 2002 Atherton, CA

Blast only
1018 (Stu Bloom) 2003 Indianapolis, IN
? 2264 (vivek16) 2007 Plymouth, MN
2370 (fimmel) ? (TBA lists 0 as rookie year...) Rutland, VT
418 (JaneYoung) 2000 Austin, TX
1923 (Libby K) 2006 Plainsboro, NJ
217 (GeeForce) 1999 Sterling Heights, MI
1025 (GaryVoshol) ? (TBA lists 0 as rookie year) Ferndale, MI
340 or 424...not sure (rees2001) 340 and 424: 2000 Churchville, NY
190 (Nuttyman54) 1992 Worcester, MA
781 (d.courtney) 2002 Kincardine, ON (Canada)
1565 (T3_1565) 2005 Cambridge, ON (Canada)
68 (JBotAlan) 1998 Pontiac, MI

Wow...that was a lot of work...

No high-number teams have received their part yet--no team # > 1000. Other than that I see little correlation. Analyze away. I'm done with that.

At the top of the page, there is a link labeled "Chief Delphi"--it's at the beginning of "Chief Delphi > ChiefDelphi.com website > Extra Discussion..." Click it and pick the correct forum. Then, click the New Thread button at the top, and post away.

JBot

Re: pic: Game hint
 

:D I think a big reason behind releasing the game hints is to get us to think. So far we are thinking of solutions to possibly fictitious problems. This in my opinion is a great way to improve the knowledge of the participating members.

Just my opinion though

Re: pic: Game hint
 

I did that (I'm not THAT new) it says I'm prohibitated from creating new threads. Not sure why....

Re: pic: Game hint
 

OK I'm tired of the confusion. Let get this straight.
We are finally getting the robot-thumb game that some of us have been waiting for!
Each alliance gets 2 remote controls. For example, the red alliance is handed 2 red remotes while on deck. They decide which 2 robots will hold the remotes. The first part of the game requires that a robot with the remote reach some spot on the field. This will be in front of the IR sensor. The sensor is housed on the field with only a small opening.
There the robot activates its mechanical thumb. It presses the button on the remote! The sensor sees the coded IR signal and activates one of the 4 outputs. this signal releases the first group of red batons. If the second red robot also got its remote aimed and detected, field releases the rest of the red batons.
After 45 seconds, all remaining batons are released. I assume that blue has broken thumbs.

Why a learning sensor? Because, some robot klutz will jam its thumb through the remote. Then the field crew must get a new remote out of the box and have the field learn the new code.

go teams!! may the best thumb win!!

jerry w

Re: pic: Game hint
 

thats the only thing I saw, yet AL is across the states and CT is that far plus north! hmmmmmmmmm

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Are you trying to make a thread in "Extra Discussion?" Try somewhere else, like the Rumor Mill.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

This, my dear, cannot be accomplished, not while we still inhabit these mortal bodies. Ignoring dave is like ignoring the weather outside. Most of us hate the weatherman on TV, we simply cannot ignore him and his awesome automagicktelecastingisitgonnasnow powers!

Ah, yes. That's the reason. Extra Discussion is reserved ONLY for comments on Pics or Papers in CD-Media. Try Chit-Chat or Rumor Mill instead.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

[...]

Re: pic: Game hint
 

My guess is that the sensor will be part of the field. If it is only able to receive data from up to a few feet away, how would the robot be able to receive it from across a field?

Re: pic: Game hint
 

thanks everyone who helped with the thread problem (I was stupid and forgot that lol) I have the tally up in a different thread if you wish to add you team/name to the list!

Re: pic: Game hint
 

It wouldn't be a stretch to put some kind of human-interpretable signal to indicate the state; for example, a colored light, or a numeric sign...
Dave is everywhere. I have remarked in the past at his ability to read an astounding amount of information in a short period. Either he does little else in his free time, or he's surfing at work.
Please everyone, Ben is not a hoax. Just google him, fer cryin' out loud!
Someone, somewhere has to pay for everything. In this case, is it too much of a stretch to imagine that DEC (Digital Equipment Corp) offered to pay for these boards (with very generous donations from others), hence the name of the web page?

YIKES! 418 posts, this thread is moving far too fast. Is it bad that I have read every post?

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Confirmation from Team 971 (Mountain View, CA, 2002) that they have received both the email blast and the physical sensor.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

It may also be due to the month, or both together.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

That's not YIKES, that's cool.
And yay for reading all the posts, you get an extra chocolate covered cherry!

Re: pic: Game hint
 

mmmmm cherry!!! too bad I'm too busy to read the posts.... (too many things to do with robots lol)

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Thanks Jane, one day I'll collect!

And EricH, I am so absorbed I have literally forgotten what month is it. D'oh!

Don

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Yeah... we didn't technically get our part yet. :(
We did get the e-mail though.
That's my bad! Thats what I get for having a conversation about this @ 2am in the morning. We have e-mail confirmation, but no part yet as of 8pm 12/17/07.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

It just means you are skilled at finding ways to waste inordinate amounts of your time for little to no gain. ;) (I've read every post too, so I'm in the same boat) Actually, this thread might make an interesting mathematical study given that the rate of posting of certain ideas (hoax, virtual game piece, etc) seems (from what I remember of the previous 425 posts) almost like a damped sinusoidal pattern. I'd imagine that the period of the sine wave is probably somehow related to the number 15 (as in the default posts/page).

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Here is something that just popped in my head...

The autonomous game: There are n number of blue or red boxes with green stripes on the field. We still get cameras, but they are used to look for the boxes. There are 4 types of boxes:
0 point boxes, 2 point boxes, 4 point boxes, and 8 point boxes (made up values of course)
Each box has a specific IR frequency. What we must do is look for the boxes and decide which box is worth the most, pick it up, and place it in a sand box type pit in the center of the field (going off the hint of the new game doesn't require much field setup).

So... to make it simple: Autonomous mode starts, robots go out, find the box of the right color worth the most points, pick it up, place it in the pit.

Regular match: All the boxes look the same except some are red and some are blue (due to alliances). The robots must go up to the boxes, determine the value, and decide whether or not to score it.

EDIT: The reason I selected boxes is because we haven't had them in a llloooonnnnggg time...

Re: pic: Game hint
 

I can see that for auto mode only I can see the IR getting shut off for tele mode (after auto points are tallied) and every "square" is now worth two points only, or something to that nature.

I like the idea though.. it would quite fun to play!

Re: pic: Game hint
 

If so, then every one of us here are doing something bad. But since "everyone else is jumping off the bridge", then by the standards of today's society, it automatically makes it right.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Sorry to all. I will stop posting these anonymous hints.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

You killed it. Now the whole thread and time as we know it will fold upon itself, creating a void where nothing but robotic competitions exsist! Happy?

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Wow! I like this theory... it synchs with some of what I've heard and some speculations. It also sounds fun and focuses on the programming end more, which I'm sure would make it a unique challenge.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

That describes me perfectly!!! -:D But the catch for me is, I've grown so numb to the conversation that I sorta skip over the posts re: whether or not this is a hoax (because we know it's not).

And what the heck is a "damped sinusoidal pattern"? I'm fairly certain I've never heard of that before, yet I get the feeling that I will later this year (Hon. Precalc + Hon. Physics = a lot of math)

Re: pic: Game hint
 

I believe your post was edited because the modrators have decided that you need to start talk using a real account, and not one that was made to try and give hints (false or otherwise)

Re: pic: Game hint
 

You definitely will hear about damped sinusoidal functions in both of those classes. Here is an example:
Basically, it is a sine graph of varying 'height.'

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Well, thus my point. A human interpretable signal would be nigh useless for robots in autonomous mode while an IR signal would be highly useful. But in tele-op, the human drivers could easily depend on the human interpretable signals instead of their robot sensing the IR signals. So the IR sensor would be potentially useful but no longer vitally necessary in tele-op.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

1610 so far has gotten the e-mail....i've made sure our lead teacher had the shipping address right

Re: pic: Game hint
 

It did not contain a prank.
All it said was very important information about updating your shipping address.
Which if you haven't by now, seems like you really should do some housekeeping as far as TIMS goes right about now teams!:)

Re: pic: Game hint
 

What if the indication is pointed out of the view of the alliance stations?

Re: pic: Game hint
 

how does that explain the banana?

Re: pic: Game hint
 

I'm curious too.

I'm also curious as to what you did to that image.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

I think he just inverted the colors in MS Paint and then pasted in a banana, an allusion to something by Dlavery, I don't remember exactly what.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Dave put a banana in a "hint" for "2007" some time ago. Havabanana Productions (AKA Dave) does the game animation every year. (Actually, what Art did looks like what sanddrag tried in the official hint discussion last year.)

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Just an old callback!

http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ght=game+hints

Re: pic: Game hint
 

That and this

Re: pic: Game hint
 

The IR sensor component was donated by Vishay. We (diversifiedsystems) provided the layout, engineering, bare circuit boards, all the remainder of the components, and assembled it all. This was part of our sponsorship to FIRST, and specifically to all the teams. We have some other cool things coming....

BMW AKA Ben Michael Wrightsman for those that asked.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

hey people after looking at this picture and taking a look at the site it refers you to, this "IR learning Infared remote" makes me think about a year or two ago when Dave from Hot team started to talk about how he wants the robots to respond to more then just one color! this may be the remote they were looking for to do such a thing dont ya think??

Re: pic: Game hint
 

A model of the 2008 IR Board is posted in the FirstCadLibrary if you want to do some "virtual tinkering". :cool:

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Wow, what an original idea, no one has posted that idea before (hint: there is a "search this thread" tool).

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Ed/Anyone,

We can post the dimension CAD if it would benefit any of you.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

...I'm done following this thread... I have some hardcore sleeping to do...

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Here's my take on this board. The board is used to switch modes (which color to look for or which part to manipulate). It is not used for navigation. The IR has proven to be too scattered for navigation. Each team can pick the particular IR codes with their own remote. But during competition each robot will need to respond to the same IR code for each mode. The field code be almost completely covered with multiple high output IR transmitters (spotlights) from many angles. Each robot only needs to see one valid code to give the FRC controller a 100mSec signal per the Official FRC spec sheet. Well how do the units get programmed at the competition you may ask. Since I don't have a decoder board I can speculate that the J2 header on the decoder board is a programming port or a remote "learn" switch. Another possibility is that the IR board has some preprogrammed IR signals that are not used by IR remotes. If you compare the FRC decoder board to the TinyIR2 board by TaunTek You will notice the extra 10k resistor (R4) That seems to go to the J2 header. Sounds like a weak pullup for an input to the PIC. Maybe someone can post a picture of the back of the board (unless it's a 4 layer) or better yet a schematic.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Erm. Well then yes, the IR board would presumably be nigh on mandatory for any team to be successful. Which is possible, but which I am philosophically opposed to.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Thanks Ben, I'm sure that information would be beneficial for many. Nice work - FIRST is very fortunate to have you on board. Looking forward to figuring out what this board will be used for.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Eww, MS Paint. Those are some lonely megabytes on my hard drive, as I've haven't used MS Paint in about two years. The real story behind this image goes even deeper...

As an avid fan of Numb3rs, I like to dig deeper into everyday objects to unravel our most perplexing mysteries. I first opened the photo in Photoshop CS2, and cropped out the parts I didn't want (Otherwise the filter algorithms might return false positives). Then to highlight the differences in the photo, I ran the photo through a heightened saturation filter, with an offset in the hue. From this, I upped the contrast by about 20%, which now provided an optimal base image to begin the preliminary filter algorithms.

The first thing I would need to do was an inverse dithering and noise cancellation algorithm. Since the base photo was a JPEG image, there was noise in the photo from compressing it into a lossy file format; yet within this noise, there was also the image of the banana. Since the compression artifacts only effect the pixels around the source pixel, running the photo through these two algorithms simultaneously and integrating the results returned what I was looking for. I began to see the faint outline of a banana. :cool:

However, it took several tries to get a good filter pass of the photo. Because these filters act upon the image using Erwin Schrödinger's theories of exponential decay of pixels in compressed photos, sometimes the banana is still alive in the output, others it's not. And there is no way you can predict or know which is which, except for running the algorithm a lot and relying on an interpretation and statistical analysis of the results.

Using these results, I now needed another algorithm to be able to exactly detect the banana in the image, rather than rely on only human pattern-recognition skills, which in the hands of a creative person can result in one million different things visible in the same cloud in the sky. Obviously such a diverse range of output values given the extremely limited domain of input values in such a case would be extremely detrimental in our circumstance.

After doing some research into pattern recognition algorithms, and more specifically banana-recognition algorithms, I discovered this site about banana and apple recognition. It was a gold mine of information, and even had working algorithms. Bingo. My hunch about the banana on the left side of the image paid off. The algorithm predicted that is was indeed a banana with 99.7% certainty, and with a very narrow Gaussian distribution of the output data.

From there, I duplicated the layer and highlighted the banana in yellow to make it easier to see.

But after looking back through my source website again, so much of the website seemed applicable to FIRST at the moment. So with that in mind,


...I've thus concluded that this year's game involves... apples and bananas! How 'bout them apples? :p

Re: pic: Game hint
 

this may have been said but i dont want to read about 455 post but it might have to do with the team inductor light because this cable fits on 2 sets of the connectors if i am not mistaken

Re: pic: Game hint
 

It isn't the diagnostic light. It's an IR receiver, programmable. Go read the thread. (You can skip the discussion of "hoax or not"--that's about 50 of the posts right there.)

Re: pic: Game hint
 

I had to compress the photo more then default to get under CD's 750KB limit. I'm pretty sure it was a pineapple before compression.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

i understand that part but where on the robot controller could it plug in

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Ooh.. pineapples.
Now you're speakin' my language. :D

Or... wait.. I didn't buy those pineapples.
But I did buy the Banana costume.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

my conclusion is that the field will communicate to the robot, a solid, strong single signal that will probably change based on the state of the game(think offense, defense,ffa). IR is too shady try to communicate back and forth, but if you have enough power and transmitters i think the field could cut through anything, and render all auto focusing stuff useless. This could even be another lair of safety! I wonder why IR.......

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Seems pretty clear to me... the receiver board is for the robot. With digital outs it doesn't make sense to go on a field component. FIRST is sending out the kits early so everyone on break can play with them. My hunch is that Diversified Systems is also providing the IR emitters. Or shall we say beacons. The beacons will be battery powered and part of field components/scoring objects.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

The age-old debate of the sequence of circle/square/triangle game pieces will come to an end in 2008.
This year's game will feature all three.
Spheres, cubes, and tetrahedrons will be scattered in some way around the field, to be placed by the robots in corresponding bins. There will be casters on the bottom of the cube-bin and the tetra-bin, making them mobile around the field. The collection for the spheres will be much like the ground goals in Aim High, and they may be reintroduced to the arena by human players after having been scored. Much like Triple Play, a few of the game pieces, as well as the mobile bins, will have IR signals coming from them; the robots will have to differentiate between the different game pieces and place them in the correct bins during autonomous mode. Robots will score 2 points for each game piece placed in a bin, 5 points for each correct placement, and a 20-point autonomous bonus. There will be raised platforms on each half; at the end of the game, a multiplier will be awarded for each mobile bin atop the alliance's platform.
The name of the contest is Match Game (a not-so-hidden reference to Dave Lavery's childhood hero, Gene Rayburn).

Re: pic: Game hint
 

[quote=www.divsys.com;660698]Ed/Anyone,

We can post the original CAD and specs if it would benefit any of you.[/QUOTE

Yes! Please!

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Ben,

Welcome to ChiefDelphi.com. Get ready for the craziness.

AB

Guess
 

:)
I know what i said earlier, but

My guess from reading this and other threads is that there will be different goals on the field and the goals will change value in points or will only be scorable at certain times. Once the robot is close to a goal it will be able to pick up the IR and decide weather or not to put the object in the goal.

This is simple and makes sense. Right:confused:

Re: pic: Game hint
 

OOOH!!!!

Maybe my dream of a more field oriented positioning system is coming true!!!

Maybe, on the field, there are IR emitters all over the place, each giving off a different code. You can use the IR receiver to pick up these codes, and tell where your robot is.

YES

Jacob

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Ed, I just sent you part of the CAD. Tooling holes are noted for mounting. Can't say much more than that for now. :)

thanks,
BMW

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Maybe this is a suppliment for the colored beacons. They are mounted on the robot and interpreted by the video equipment. Video processing is done to place special icons over the robots on the screen indicating their alliance. Like is done is some sporting events.

This would make for a more TV friendly game.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Holy crap Art! I don't understand anything you said, but that seems like a lot of work! Umm...thanks??? :D

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Must be to be able to be mounted to the Kitty O Parts.
Or.. wait.. do they need aditional sensors to see in the dark? :p
They already have plenty of them. http://www.machinebrain.com/images/omroncat.jpg
But, none-the-less, I'm impressed. The ability to hardwire an electronic device into a kitty? Very cool.
Gotta love FIRST for always keeping us on the cutting edge of technology.

I wonder if they will just clone the cats to be able to give one to every team, or just have us get one locally as a C.A.T.S. Item?
(Commercial At The Store Item) :rolleyes:

Re: pic: Game hint
 

dang, someone else beat me to it! this is at the top of the list of random quotes already :)

Re: pic: Game hint
 

We just got ours in...I mean the FedEx man just left.

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that would be me :D

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I like!!! Although some regionals are still a few pixels short of having a broadcast, this would help a lot. This would even benefit the team webcasts out there. Which leads me to a question that didn't get answered in the specialty forums.

[hijak=thread] For those who do live streams, what equipment and software do teams use? I was looking at Sony's XDCam series and it's accessories, though we aren't there financially. Wireless transmitters? Onboard mics, handheld, or booms? How much in total did your media solution cost?[/hijak]

Re: pic: Game hint
 

My equipment (computers, switches, routers, scan converter, monitors, KVM switch, capture card, connecting cables, audio mixer, mics, and domain name) cost about $1200 or so.
I didn't buy the cameras, but for a professional one they start at about $700 for a good one.
As for software windows 2003 includes the media server, and the encoder is free to download from the microsoft web site. Also Ubuntu Linux and VLC can be used to web cast.
:D
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...light=web+cast

Re: pic: Game hint
 

you sir, are too sneaky lol :p We are going to end up analysing your quotes soon like we do to dave if your not careful lol :p

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Seems like everyone is forgetting that these are IR receivers as opposed to transmitters. They can only read signals, not send them.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

And who said there is no transmitter in the KOP?
:D

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Didn't forget!! Just hadn't seen the web site before I posted. The IR identifier would still be cool!!

I'm liking the idea of couch potato human players now that I've read what this thing is!

Maybe the human players are on the other side of the field giving secondary commands to the robot.

or... Better yet your alliance partner is on the other side of the field and they give your robot commands/information about strategy.


or... The robots communicate with each other to accomplish a specific multi step task like lifting the third member of the alliance.

or... or... or...:eek:

Re: pic: Game hint
 

1687 (Fully paid) got ours today.

Recieve ours
 

Just saw ours but our coach/mentor/teacher won't let me look at it.

It's all lot smaller than I thought.

Re: Recieve ours
 

Team 1241 has the part (tuesday) time to get cracking.. =)

Re: pic: Game hint
 

got it, crunch time:cool:

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Hope we got ours...i don't know...we didn't have it as of 10:40 this morning when I was in engineering...Now i wish i had stayed after school...:(

Re: pic: Game hint
 

1625 has received both the part and the email. we got 2 pieces of paper in the package though same thing

Re: pic: Game hint
 

We received our today. Here are some pictures from my phone and a video will follow once it processes on youtube.com.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

@ryanN Yeah pretty much ours. I was going to upload pics but it is pretty good in what you have.

well I hooked it up to a 9 volt and the error light flashed once :o umm... my dog ate it :p . Ok it does that consistently so i am just going to assume that it just needs to be programmed.

-vivek

Re: pic: Game hint
 

what does the back of the board look like

Re: pic: Game hint
 

The back of the board is flat with no components and a few traces. I would put some space between it and a piece of metal. Vivek, have you tried to program it? You need to hold down the tact button before you connect the power to enter programming mode. Continue holding the button down for 2 seconds then release the button while keeping the power on. Then the CMD0 light will come on. Press down a button on the remote control you want to use until the CMD0 light flashes off, then on and turns off again illuminating the next LED (CMD1). Here is the video of ours working. It's really easy to setup.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=G9U7flxTDes

Re: pic: Game hint
 

here:

Re: pic: Game hint
 

no, I have not tried to program it. Thanks for the information :)

thanks, vivek

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Now I did have a problem where, after I programmed it, it was working, then all of a sudden, it stopped working. I don't know if the remote changed modes, but I never did get it working again until I reprogrammed it. Hopefully it's not a programming glitch and it is just a mode or something on the remote that I was not aware of. (the remote was giving me trouble with the DVD player too, so I'm suspecting the remote) If anyone has any questions, I can try to answer them.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

we received ours today (tues) i have not had a chance to mess with it though so hopefully this weekend or sometime soon i can tinker a bit and try to get it working

Re: pic: Game hint
 

If someone with a board and access to a multi-meter can do some checking, I would appreciate it. Primarily I would like to know if the White header plug has a pin connected to the same pin on the micro that the Programming button connects to.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Team 1511, Rolling Thunder, in Rochester NY has received its sensor :) It did indeed come in a package labeled as the hint, in case anyone still has doubts about that. Got a chance to play with it tonight and got it to receive a signal from a remote. Had to strip the ribbon cable end so we could hook it to power, but it works! Haven't tested range, but up close it works just like its supposed to.

Re: Recieve ours
 

Same thing I said when I saw it. It's smaller than the CMU camera board, by about half.

Re: pic: Game hint
 

As i just finished reading through all the other posts I have a question for Dean Kamen, Dave Lavery, or our new sponsor diversified Systems (or any other official FIRST people): since it IS the season for gifts are there any other nice little hints you would like to give to the good little boys and girls who spend so much time theorizing and reading this thread? If there is a place with divsys's CAD file for the board I could use a link. Thanks and happy holidays!

Re: pic: Game hint
 

For the chip is FIRST sending out backups to teams or just one? :confused:

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Ben, and all our friends at Diversified Systems Inc:

Thank you so very much for the generous donation. I humbly apologize for even thinking that DEC was involved (tells you where my head is at: I did not even realize it was December!) and failing to recognize your company's involvement. A big thanks to Vishay as well!

It must be so cool to work at (own?) a place where they have pick-n-place machines AND wave soldering equipment. Kind of like my idea of an amusement park, or maybe a shopping mall....

-...-

Anyway, Team 1676 got their little envelope today, and I think everyone needs to be reminded: This board is NOT large. It's about the size of the sensor board in the KOP last year, maybe 1.5" x 2.5"? The little square of paper with the web address on it is smaller than a business card. Think Small. All the more reason the believe it'll be mounted to the robot.

So, repeating what 09randy (oh, ydnar90) wrote: Hey, how 'bout a poem to go with this hint?

Don

Re: pic: Game hint
 

Maybe since every team is going to program this circuit with their own remote, perhaps the PIC contains enough RAM to download the settings to the camera for detecting different colors of goal lights.

It would be up to the driver team to bring their robot close enough to the driver station to control the PIC with the team's remote to detect the ever-changing goal light.