Has anyone ever used a Computer Mouse to locate themselves on the field

[rahilm]

I know team 972 tried this before they merged with our team in 2008. IIRC, they used just a mechanical mouse, where they had the ball running against the ground. I don't think they had all too much success, but it looked fairly promising. I think with laser mice, you will run into a similar problem of having to have it very close to the ground. This could have been a problem for the last two years (bumps + lip by goal for Breakaway, and lip by poles for Logomotion).

[staplemonx]

Originally Posted by rahilm

This could have been a problem for the last two years (bumps + lip by goal for Breakaway, and lip by poles for Logomotion).

That makes sense.

Good to know though.

Thanks

[EricH]

A few teams used a follower-wheel system in 2009, using unpowered omni wheels attached to encoders or something similar.

[Colin P]

Originally Posted by EricH

A few teams used a follower-wheel system in 2009, using unpowered omni wheels attached to encoders or something similar.

I know some of these were used for traction control. They would compare the rotation on their powered wheel encoders to the rotation in the unpowered wheel to see if they were actually moving as fast as they thought they were (if at all).
I know team 51 had some kind of location on their drivers station in 2010. I'm not sure why they used it, but it worked pretty well.