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Unread 15-07-2002, 17:01
rbayer's Avatar Unsung FIRST Hero
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Personally, I like the current control system. PBASIC is easier to teach rookies than a language such as C and MUCH easier to teach than something object-oriented like Java. It's one of the few languages that is easy to learn on a fundamental level and yet still powerful enough that advanced programmers can find ways around its little quircks. As of yet, I haven't found anything I wanted to do but couldn't do to limitations of the language. Besides, the Isaac32 is one of the best robot controllers out there.

What I wish would be different:

Larger/more fuse panels in kit: This year, almost half of ours were spliced to drive multiple relays. Definately not ideal.

Allow teams to hold the circuit breaker in the "on" position with a metal bar. The internal mechanism of the circuit breaker will still trip without the physical switch moving, but it prevents impact shocks from tripping the breaker.

Add an award for software engineering. Some teams have some truly amazing programming and it needs to be recognized.

Switch to NiCads: I know this won't happen, but I'll dream about it anyway. NiCads are smaller and lighter than the current SLA's, but are a bit more expensive. The problem with SLA's is that their capacity plummets as you pull more current out of them. For the 2 minutes we use batteries for, a 9Ah NiCd would probably provide more capacity than the current 17.2Ah SLAs we are using, due to the inefficient nature of SLA's. The only problem is that they would cost 3-4 times as much as the current SLA's.

Bring back the old chargers: Let's face it, the battery charger's they gave us this year sucked. The old ones were so much faster and made it so much easier to keep all the batteries charged.
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