Full Court Target Detection

[Bpk9p4]

thanks you for posting this. Would you recommend using this lens on an axis 206?

[Greg McKaskle]

I'm not sure I understand the question. They are good quality lenses and I have used them on the 206. If you remove the lens you will find that the threads are pretty loose. I applied a bit of teflon tape to keep the lens from twisting due to vibration on the robot.

I'm not convinced that IR is a better solution than visible light, and I think it will be harder to debug if/when it doesn't work. If you try out IR, do it methodically, and perhaps have a backup plan -- a visible-light LED ring and lens to swap back to.

Greg McKaskle

[Bpk9p4]

i agree that IR might not be the best way to go. Are only problem with RGB light is currently we can not get full court detection without having a very strong light and running the risk of violating the rules

[Greg McKaskle]

If you get the LEDs close to the lens I think you'll find that they won't be nearly as bright as the folks with the photon cannons. Please post images and I'll do what I can to help analyze them.

Greg McKaskle

[Bpk9p4]

thanks a lot for your help. i will try to get some screen shots this weekend

[Bryscus]

Originally Posted by Greg McKaskle

If you get the LEDs close to the lens I think you'll find that they won't be nearly as bright as the folks with the photon cannons. Please post images and I'll do what I can to help analyze them.

Greg McKaskle

The difference is that for camera tracking you typically want a somewhat wider spread light which is more likely to bother people (unless of course you're shooting from far enough away to allow you to limit the spread). Using a highly directional photon cannon pointed up shouldn't bother many opposing drivers. Its just the people up in nosebleed seats that will get blasted.

- Bryce

[Greg McKaskle]

The difference is that for camera tracking you typically want a somewhat wider spread light which is more likely to bother people (unless of course you're shooting from far enough away to allow you to limit the spread). Using a highly directional photon cannon pointed up shouldn't bother many opposing drivers. Its just the people up in nosebleed seats that will get blasted.

The way I look at it, the spread of the light determines how many people it impacts. The brightness of the light determines how much it affects the people with the light in their eyes. The teams I'm familiar with that did this last year shined it on the floor, wall, ceiling, and everything in between. I'm not saying it was a bad strategy, but the lights were far far brighter than the LEDs.

Heres another way of looking at this. The retroreflective material is graded by how much more light it reflects than white paint. I believe the material used is at least 300x brighter. That means it only takes 1/300th the intensity of light when used properly.

Greg McKaskle

[Bpk9p4]

Just a warning for other teams. The axis 206 camera has an IR filter. We attempted to remove the filter today and found it not to be possible.