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Unread 19-01-2006, 20:54
Crtcalmss Crtcalmss is offline
Team Mentor
FRC #0350 (Timberlane Owls Robotics Club (TechnOtus))
Team Role: Teacher
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Rookie Year: 1999
Location: Plaistow, NH
Posts: 13
Crtcalmss will become famous soon enough
Fixing Camera "overload"

Our team had been having problems with the color registration for the camera. Whenever we got closer to the illuminated target, the color "washed" out on the camera display and the computer couldn't recognize the color green. In addition, we were having significant problems with the camera trying to track the room's fluorescent lights and the light coming in from the windows. A previous thread suggested a UV filter since this kind of camera was sensitive to UV. Our team killed two birds with one stone... We went to Wal-Mart, bought the cheapest pair of dark (grey) sunglasses we could find, removed the lens, and mounted it in front of the camera's lens. We now have a camera that no longer responds to UV, has a nice, dark, background, even in full light, and sees the illuminated target as a nice, rich green color that is easy to track. Some tweaking of the camera controls through the software was needed, but its now working great and it tracks very well and re-acquires quickly when signal is lost.

The sunglasses were in the jewelry department and cost a whopping $3.95. They were a pair of "kids" sunglasses with 100% UV protection.

Hope that helps someone...