Inter-robot communcation
 

Apparentally we get to have the robots cooperate.

Quote:

Friendly interaction between machines is acceptable, if all teams are willing.

Judging from the response I got on ni.com/first, I don't think it will be through the robot radio this year.

What about the IR boards from 2008?

Re: Inter-robot communcation
 

That has been in the last couple manuals just like the quote from your other thread.

I believe it also is there to cover all interactions between machines during practice matches including defense.

Re: Inter-robot communcation
 

Okay, I'll do that this year.

Re: Inter-robot communcation
 

Yeah, I think this is more for games like Rack 'n Roll where you'd have to have the robots work together to get teammates lifted off the ground for the bonus points.

Re: Inter-robot communcation
 

"Friendly interaction" refers to physical contact in this context.

Re: Inter-robot communcation
 

As much as I would love to see robots able to communicate with each other (hive mind autonomous, anybody?), I don't think that it's what that bit refers to.

Re: Inter-robot communcation
 

I believe you are right about that not being what they are refering to, but it would be really cool to see autonomous robots communicating and interacting with each other ... now to work on a common protocol ... :P

Re: Inter-robot communcation
 

...*shudder*
That could be...interesting.

Re: Inter-robot communcation
 

Well, I was assuming everyone would just chat in this thread.

But since you're interested:
I'm planning on using ultrasonic to transmit team numbers, perhaps encoded with DTMF or morse code.
From that, other robots can use sensors and triangulation to tell where all the robots are, and the LabVIEW waveform processing to tell what number they are.

Re: Inter-robot communcation
 

As I said earlier, this phrase has been in the manual several times, and primarily refers to practicing defense during practice rounds. If the teams are willing, the robots can practice defending each other, provided that they keep it to a reasonable amount of contact.

If you want to try to communicate with another robot, fine. But I don't think they'll have sensors in your sending range that will be able to detect your signal. It's just as unlikely that they have transmitters for their info that you'll be able to detect. Unless, of course, there's been a game change and we have to, but I don't think the GDC's going to hit us with that for a couple of years yet.

Re: Inter-robot communcation
 

While I agree that I don't think the GDC will hit us with this, we already have a way to communicate between robots ... it's called WiFi (802.11N to be exact), and it comes prebuilt into the system :D

... now back to that protocol :p


Seriously though, I doubt they'd let us use WiFi

Re: Inter-robot communcation
 

This is not about getting a tactical advantage.
This is a step towards fully-autonomous robots.

In a comprehensive application of military robots, you have land, air, and underwater robots, which need to be able to communicate with eachother. The most basic information you would transfer is where each robot is.

Re: Inter-robot communcation
 

It has been a hope (for some folks in First) to be able to use wireless to communicate between robots for a few years now. I remember it being discussed in a few different venues and with a few different methods. Modulated IR jumps to mind as one possibility. Certainly the wireless networking could be used, but a data storm from an errant robot could bring down a match. Under controlled conditions it could prove very cool during auto.

Re: Inter-robot communcation
 

If FIRST were to provide a server implementations and simple API for each of the cRIOs (with plenty of checks in place to limit maximum messaging rates), there would be some intriguing possibilities. Ultimately, though, I doubt that wireless inter-robot communications will ever be a part of the game because it would put teams who can't afford to build multiple robots (or who can't practice with many other teams during build) at an enormous disadvantage - they wouldn't be able to even experiment robot communication until their practice day.

Re: Inter-robot communcation
 

Not necessarily true.
With a common query / report protocol, a ‘dummy’ robot program could be set up in a PC. This would give all teams a chance to test their inter-robot communications without having a second robot.

The biggest hurdle that I see is limiting each teams bandwidth so as to not saturate the available bandwidth. This should be able to be accomplished through the FPGA and FCS.