Thread: Camera
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Unread 10-03-2016, 09:52
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ToddF ToddF is offline
mechanical engineer
AKA: Todd Ferrante
FRC #2363 (Triple Helix)
Team Role: Mentor
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Rookie Year: 2011
Location: Newport News, VA
Posts: 599
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Re: Camera

Our at-home practice showed that it was quite useful, so 2363 added one to our competition bot, running at 10fps. We expected to use it when the robot was out of view to pick up balls, score low goals and to open the bridge and port. Our driver reported that it was only actually useful when opening the bridge and port. Taking eyes off the robot to look at the camera feed, unless absolutely necessary, slowed him down.

We went into the competition expecting to open the doors for others to pass through. After trying it, we abandoned this tactic as too inefficient, timewise. This tactic requires very skilled driving by all three robots, and you rarely get that combo in the quals. In the eliminations, you are using any extra time for scoring balls to capture the tower.

So, in our experience, the answer to your question is no. You would be better served by adding some flags to your bot to allow the driver to keep track of your bot without taking eyes off the field. On the other hand, adding a camera is easy, so there's not much downside to doing so.
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