Is anyone using the Camera?
 

I was at the New Jersey Regional this past weekend and I think I saw one maybe two robots who used the camera. I was interested if anyone had used them and Why or Why not.

Re: Is anyone using the Camera?
 

We use the camera but not to track trailers. We use it for ball recognition along with our light curtain. If we have already sucked up a Empty cell the camera will have hopefully seen that and will not let us suck up another one. Also our intake system is completely autonomous using the previous said light curtain.

Re: Is anyone using the Camera?
 

We are using our camera and all the code is written for it. We just have to mount it and recalibrate it at comps. Also the whole turret is manual control, if the camera locks onto the colors, then a joystick movement will auto lock it. Otherwise our turret is manual control.

Re: Is anyone using the Camera?
 

Yes, Team 904 has implemented code to use the camera in autonomous AND in tele-op mode.

Re: Is anyone using the Camera?
 

We'll find out next week whether or not we use it...it's mounted, programmed, and was kind of working when the robot shipped.

Some recalibration required

Re: Is anyone using the Camera?
 

Based on what we saw in week 1 matches, we changed our camera focus ;) to the live streaming. It appears that using live video 160x120 @25fps scaled up in our python dashboard to 320x240 is going to more valuable to the driver to aid in picking up moon rocks than for tracking targets, although we hope to get near instant mode switching working by the FL regional.

Re: Is anyone using the Camera?
 

We have a lock mode that we could not shake in the shop, we will have to see how that turns out on the field, I am concerned about the lighting issues mentioned in another thread. We found effective lock code was nearly impossible without the use of separate tasks in C++ (I dont know about labview nor do I care).

Note that semaphores are very important in this, and I recommend that you do not use the WPI "restricted region" (which is not much of an abstraction anyway) and access the vxWorks semaphores directly there are different types and they are each for very different situations.

Re: Is anyone using the Camera?
 

do you remember that our bandwidth is being limited to ~950 bytes every 0.02 seconds (50 hz)? i don't think that will work.

Re: Is anyone using the Camera?
 

We have some prelim code done and tested, the problem is that our bot will fall into osculation because of the low traction. We ended up not using it at our 1st regional because of that. We are working on that now and hope to have it up and going for Purdue.

Re: Is anyone using the Camera?
 

You almost won MWR with a not-fully-functioning robot, and you'll have it fixed at BMR? ::scary::

Re: Is anyone using the Camera?
 

The user data is 984 bytes * 50 hz = 49,200 Bytes per second (393 kbps ).

An appropriately compressed 160x120 image is 1300 - 1800 bytes. We fit each image over two packets, along with a pretty decent amount of telemetry.

160x120 is a bit small, so we stretch it to 320x240 on our Dashboard. Because the eye integrates video very well, it's much more than usable for the driver.

Re: Is anyone using the Camera?
 

We're certainly using the camera to track the targets and automatically aim our turret, unless the programmers decide to stream video from it. Whichever one is easier is the one we're going for.

Re: Is anyone using the Camera?
 

The camera we have programmed on our robot tracks opposing trailers, chases after the trailer, then when it gets about a foot away starts the belt holding the moon rocks and dumps it in. The program worked actually really well at the DC regional, except for 2 or 3 times were the camera lost patience or the target for whatever reason.

Re: Is anyone using the Camera?
 

We had the camera sending video back to our laptop at the control station and it was pretty much seamless, i was expecting it to be really bad refresh rate but we had no trouble with it at Traverse city.

Re: Is anyone using the Camera?
 

We had a couple of software issues at start of the DC Regional, but as the tournament went on, I was assured it was working. Since we did not have a chance to fully test it out on the practice field, we choose not to use it and relied on manual control of the turret and shooter. We expect to have it up and running at Chesapeake, however. We will still have the turret under manual control until just before firing, when we will allow the camera to lock on the target and then fire.