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Unread 04-04-2016, 10:22
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dougwilliams dougwilliams is offline
Engineer - Controls, Electronics
FRC #2053 (TigerTronics)
Team Role: Mentor
 
Join Date: May 2013
Rookie Year: 2013
Location: Vestal, NY
Posts: 109
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Talking Re: 2016 Strategy Mats

This is probably not the anticipated use for strategy mats, but we were in a bind and they did the trick in their new role as an anti-glare hood for better vision processing:



Backstory - at the Long Island Regional, we calibrated our camera during the usual setup time. After field calibration, they decided to turn on extra overhead spot lights, and then turn them off a few matches later, and then on again sometime after that. This caused havoc for our vision based goal detection, and we weren't allowed to re-calibrate. On Saturday AM we had the second match of the morning and walked into our pit, grabbed the robot for queue, some duct tape and the first structurally sound item we came across that could serve to block out some of the extra ambient and spot lights.

Yup - that's a team 701 strategy mat. Complete with team numbers and game plans in marker. We have been using them since 2014 when I started as drive coach - they are handy for more than just match planning!

You'll be happy to know it helped with the vision issues, and also passed through our final inspection!
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