[mikegrundvig]

Hmm, I don't like the wireless bridge thing. To be blunt, I don't have a lot of faith in last minute swapping of parts by either officials or ourselves. Our team has had trouble with that in the past and it's been a real problem.

I think part of what it takes to do well in competitions like this is a matter of reducing risk and mitigating potential problems before they arise. For instance, last year the team counted on a potentiometer to determine position. They ended up destroying the pot (never heard how) and had to replace it. The new one wasn't of the same value and so they immediately burned up a motor by driving past the stop on the arm. The solution would have been some calibration system combined with limit switches. That would make it possible to swap parts and even if something went wrong and been working properly in minutes. We've learned this lesson so this year all parts with max/min extents have limit switches along with encoders and what not.

The problem is that something with configuration like the bridge isn't quite as amiable to swamping. A tiny setting off and nothing works and we are scrambling to track it down. We have the Axis camera, onboard computer, and cRIO all plugged into the bridge. There is a lot happening and it will have been extensively tested before the competition begins. Is there any way we could simply buy the newer bridge and use it in the competition so no swapping needed? The $100 cost isn't much compared to the piece of mind that having it already tested and working on the bot will bring.

-Mike