Re: 2011 Logomotion Mini Bots
 

Exactly. The minibot rule section states you can use some common household light switches. Seems trivial to set up your deployment system to flip it on as it goes up.

Even if you left it always on, I don't think ~4 mins will kill the battery. Then again, I don't know the life of these batteries.

Re: 2011 Logomotion Mini Bots
 

The NXT may be programmed in LabVIEW. There are libraries available, and it is easier to program then the cRIO. FRCmastery.com is the sister to FTCmastery.com. There are videos and help on both sites.

Re: 2011 Logomotion Mini Bots
 

I was thinking about this same issue. Wouldn't sapping power from the main robot to power the minibot eliminate the need to place batteries on the minibot? The rule people on our team are still looking this up, but still would be a good idea if legal (minimum code if at all, and super light).

Re: 2011 Logomotion Mini Bots
 

How would you manage to have the minibot continue up the pole once it is disconnected from the main robot?

Also, LabView is pretty popular for FTC. The FTC section on CD has several teams that use it, including mine.
Now what I'm worried about is access to the libraries for FTC and FRC at the same time. My team has tried to install (last season, not this season) FRC's LabView directly over the version for FTC. The install always failed over three labtops. We had to completely remove everything related to FTC's LabView before installing FRC's LabView. Hopefully this will not be too big of a problem because an "FTC Toolkit" is released to use with LabView which should contain all the libraries for FTC. You can get the Toolkit off of USFirst.org's FTC Programming section in the "LabView Resources" link." Tomorrow, I will try installing the ToolKit over this FRC's LabView and then try to compile our most recent FTC code. I will post any problems or successes here.

Re: 2011 Logomotion Mini Bots
 

How is the minibot going to retain power? Super-caps?

Re: 2011 Logomotion Mini Bots
 

Interesting you should have this problem.
I know this was an issue for FRC 2009 and FTC 2008/09, but since then FTC and FRC have used different versions of LabVIEW.
I just yesterday installed FRC LabVIEW on laptops with the FTC LabVIEW.
Could you PM me with more details of your issue?

Re: 2011 Logomotion Mini Bots
 

To answer all those who questioned how i would keep power to the robot, our team would use a really long wire and tether it to the robot. I thought I could make it like those old rc car power systems (except with no manual control). Just a thought.

Re: 2011 Logomotion Mini Bots
 

Minibots must not exceed a 12" x 12" x 12" volume.
Rule <G41>

Re: 2011 Logomotion Mini Bots
 

That is what i was afraid of. It is a grey area in my book. Does the wire count as a part of the main robot or the minibot?

Re: 2011 Logomotion Mini Bots
 

That wire would count as both.

The MINIBOT has to come OFF OF the HOSTBOT.

Re: 2011 Logomotion Mini Bots
 

Oh, then you're looking for a different rule:
<G19> after deployment, minibots must remain completely autonomous

<G22> Hostbots may not contact their alliance's minibot once it has climbed above the deployment line.

In summary, your minibot can not be powered by the robot once it climbs above 18 inches; its sources of mechanical power is effectively limited to stretched surgical tubing, the Tetrix battery, or inertia.

Re: 2011 Logomotion Mini Bots
 

Yeah, those rules basically kill the tethering idea all together. This forces the minibots to have battery packs/other bulky energy devices which weigh them down. Thanks for the input guys!

Re: 2011 Logomotion Mini Bots
 

Other rules also apply such as the Minibot cannot be wired to the "Hostbot"

So yes, completely autonomous is the only choice, without any driver interaction as all communication between the minibot via the controller via the NXT controller is illegal due to bluetooth being disabled (as I understand it)

EDIT: My browser open from yesterday and I didn't notice, sorry for bumping this AND reposting information already posted :/

Re: 2011 Logomotion Mini Bots
 

As long as they fit with in the 12" cube and the 15 pound weight limit is there any reason a robot could not carry two minibots?

Re: 2011 Logomotion Mini Bots
 

I don't know if two minibots on the same robot would be beneficial. If you build a system to hook it up to your alliance member's bot, then not only could both poles be climbed faster, but you get a "coopertition" point for sharing your second minibot. And my team uses FTC to train our rookies to get ready for FRC, so to shed light on the battery life, our battery usually is changed probably once during an all day competition. The NXT brick usually lasts all day. If you charge the Tetrix battery between matches, it will be fine. The NXT brick just takes double A's, so even if it runs out of battery (which is unlikely), it should be easy to change batteries. If you don't mind, I think I may digress for a second. Has anyone attempted to reverse-engineer the minibots from the video? I think I may have been able to build it on CAD, but I don't know how well it would work.