Quote:
Originally posted by dlavery
[Also, I want to ask for a little help in answering a question that has me stumped. Several of the posts have suggested having a game design that will allow real time display of scores to the audiences as the game progresses. It is suggested this will pull the audience into the game a little more, and get them more involved. But coming up with a reliable, accurate way to do this that does not interrupt the flow of the game may be problematic.
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Air Hockey, though not a commonly broadcast sport, does include realtime scoring, if not entirely reliable. With the worlds geniuses at our back
, I am sure that we can improve on them to make them reliable enough. I think the easiest thing to sense would be the scooters I mentioned in my last post, sliding through some sort of slot. The slot could include the necessary scoring equipment.
One way to sense the scooters would be a pair of limit switches. The scooter would hold down A, then A and B, then just B, and finally none. This sequence would signify a score. Teams would be advised not to insert scooters in too close of a sequence.
We might also use scooters with a border of a particular material, for which a proximity sensor is available. This material could be forbidden for robots, ensuring that scores would not be faked by robot appendages. The scooters could, again, have to pass through two sequential sensors to be counted, but this could allow more to pass through.
Maybe we could use optical sensors, and have a circular pattern radiating from the center of each scooter, allowing it to be reliably read no matter how it was oriented upon entry. The ringcode could be designed to prevent the repeated entry and removal of scooters, and could be distributed by FIRST to game hosts in the form of large stickers.
Perhaps, whatever sensors were used, the scooter could be sent into the "goal" and land on a conveyor, which the robot could not access, and which would bring the scooters under the sensors in an orderly fashion, preventing tampering.
I don't know if these are feasible, but they seem like possibilities.