On board micro-controller with camera

[TogetherSword8]

Our programming team at 888 is looking at really developing our vision code. In previous years we have run target recognition through the laptop at the driver station to send back coordinates of targets (frisbees) that our robot would then drive to those coordinates, running over and picking up these objects. However, these involved stopping to recognize the target, and the calculations were not extremely time sensitive.

We are looking at possibly purchasing an on-board processing unit, but we want to know some data from other FIRST teams before we jump into a new purchase.

First, can you run an image on the processor higher than 640 by 480 at a sufficient speed (processing between 7-10 fps), or is this the max due to the limitations of the WPI Library for image processing? (We are a LabVIEW team, and a quick glance gave the highest option as 640 by 480) This would mean that we can have a higher resolution without having to send the high resolution image over the wireless system at competition.

Second, what is the difference between the latency of using a dashboard image processing system compared to an on board processor? If you were to run the processing on the computer, is the time it takes to retrieve the image wirelessly a difference when performing time sensitive applications, or is it offset by the speed of a good laptop's processor? (i.e., knowing the exact distance to the goal in this year's game, while moving towards the goal during the distance calculation)

Lastly, what processing units work well in FIRST applications? We are largely unaware of the benefits compared to drawbacks for the different processors, especially when it comes to power/capability vs price.