Is the minibot independent from the FMS?

[Frenchie461]

Yes. The minibot is independent from the FMS because the NXT brain has bluetooth disabled, and to the best of my knowledge (however slight that may be ), that is the only way to communicate with the minibot. So unless there is some way of killing the minibot with some new and unknown technology (think ray gun) it will stay running.

[Bryan Herbst]

All of the above is correct, but I thought I would add in that not only can you make your minibot come down on its own, but you need to.

As per <G59>, if you consistently cannot retrieve your own minibot from the tower, you will receive a yellow card (and, subsequently, a red card).

While there are ways to retrieve the minibot without making it come back down, making it come down is a lot easier and safer than trying to get up to it.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Tanis

All of the above is correct, but I thought I would add in that not only can you make your minibot come down on its own, but you need to.

As per <G59>, if you consistently cannot retrieve your own minibot from the tower, you will receive a yellow card (and, subsequently, a red card).

While there are ways to retrieve the minibot without making it come back down, making it come down is a lot easier and safer than trying to get up to it.

Something for the Q&A: Do you really need to do this?

Say your team built a custom, non-robot mounted stick with a Minibot size net on the end. You reach up with your stick and whack your minibot loose, falling into your stick's net. The Minibot is removed from the pole not under its own power. Is this legal?

[MrForbes]

Probably legal if you don't damage the field equipment. Is it wise? that's a separate question....seems to me it would be better for your minibot's longevity to make it go back down on it's own.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by squirrel

Probably legal if you don't damage the field equipment. Is it wise? that's a separate question....seems to me it would be better for your minibot's longevity to make it go back down on it's own.

Well, a "dummy" minibot could potentially just consist of two wheels and a limitswitch with proper wiring that just powers the motors when the limitswitch is active. It would be a lot easier to "knock off and catch" this minibot than it would to add the weight of an NXT to make it go back down.

[MrForbes]

There might be other ways to get it to "know" that it has to come back down, and make that happen. Think outside the control system box

[EricH]

Originally Posted by squirrel

There might be other ways to get it to "know" that it has to come back down, and make that happen. Think outside the control system box

I suspect that it might be possible to rig a set of limit switches to reverse the motor power, and lock them down to keep it reversed. Haven't actually tried it, though.

[Kims Robot]

Finally found a use for those silly Nifty Nabbers from 2009!! Just put a little "handle" on your robot and use the Nifty Nabber!

[SuperBK]

I'm thinking that if the motors just turned off, the minibot would just coast back down. This depends on the design of course. If the switch that turns if off, shorts the motor leads together this would provide braking.

Also the force required to activate the switch is 2-4 newtons. That converts to .44 to .88 pounds. Is that the right conversion? Thats quite a bit. If teams don't design the minibots to push that hard, the switch won't be activated.

Brian