Lights to help aim

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by IronicDeadBird

That is absolutely absurd those bright green led rings are and have always been crucial structural elements on a robot.

The keystone of any rock solid robot frame is welded-on Green LED rings, to be sure.

[araniaraniratul]

Originally Posted by jijiglobe

Fair warning, our team used a flashlight to aim our shot with incredible success throughout all of our qualifications matches, however, in Eliminations, our opponents said that our flashlight was distracting/blinding them during the match. We were forced to unplug the flashlight, significantly dropping our accuracy. Be careful about relying on a flashlight to aim, I highly recommend you have some sort of fallback solution.

@jijiglobe what flashlight were y'all using at NYC?

[Kristian Calhoun]

Originally Posted by Travis Hoffman

I remember 25's ridiculously large and bright lightzooka from 2012 being on all the time. I was standing behind the driver's glass watching matches at CMP and I remember the thing practically blinding me. I'm fairly sure it could induce migraines in people. I don't believe anyone asked for that to be turned off.

We were never asked to turn off our light in 2012 because we did so ourselves. It was only ever turned on for a few seconds at a time while lining up the shot.

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by Kristian Calhoun

We were never asked to turn off our light in 2012 because we did so ourselves. It was only ever turned on for a few seconds at a time while lining up the shot.

OK then, exactly what we do this year. Precedent established. Use a relay. It's more than those vision teams usually bother to do.

#teamflashlight

[wilsonmw04]

Originally Posted by philso

Are you using the two-cell or three-cell version? Did you have to use a voltage regulator to drop the voltage to 3 V or 4.5 V?

We are using the 2 C-cell version. We use a https://www.pololu.com/product/2110 to give us 3.3V at 3.5 amps. IT works like a charm. The one downside is that the switch defaults to the off position. A Relay will not work so it has to be on for the entire match. You have to manually turn it on before each match. We are looking at alternate solutions.

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by wilsonmw04

We are using the 2 C-cell version. We use a https://www.pololu.com/product/2110 to give us 3.3V at 3.5 amps. IT works like a charm. The one downside is that the switch defaults to the off position. A Relay will not work so it has to be on for the entire match. You have to manually turn it on before each match. We are looking at alternate solutions.

Ours ran on a single AA with the positive end facing into the flashlight. We made an acetal battery facsimile with a brass screw at the positive end. Wrapped the red wire around it and ran it up a groove milled into the side of the acetal. We then soldered a black wire to the case of the flashlight. The switch was in the rear end cap of the light, which was discarded. This light does have blink and strobe functions I think, but I believe they need to be triggered by repeated presses of the switch. If you leave the flashlight off long enough - something like a few seconds - it always reverts to turning it solid on when you apply voltage again.

I was really surprised to get the visibility and focus I got out of this little flashlight, which is roughly one inch in diameter and about 4 inches long.

[philso]

Originally Posted by wilsonmw04

We are using the 2 C-cell version. We use a https://www.pololu.com/product/2110 to give us 3.3V at 3.5 amps. IT works like a charm. The one downside is that the switch defaults to the off position. A Relay will not work so it has to be on for the entire match. You have to manually turn it on before each match. We are looking at alternate solutions.

Thanks for the info.

It looks like you should be able to connect the EN pin to a DIO pin on the RoboRio to turn it on and off. You would have to remove the 100kOhm resistor on the D15V35F5S3 if you are using an input (VIN) higher than 5 Volts. This would require that the RoboRio be able to set the EN pin in the High state or Low state 100% of the time. I would expect the software should allow this but I am not sure since I take care of the electrical and mechanical aspects of the robot.

[jijiglobe]

Originally Posted by jijiglobe

Fair warning, our team used a flashlight to aim our shot with incredible success throughout all of our qualifications matches, however, in Eliminations, our opponents said that our flashlight was distracting/blinding them during the match. We were forced to unplug the flashlight, significantly dropping our accuracy. Be careful about relying on a flashlight to aim, I highly recommend you have some sort of fallback solution.

Since a lot of people have been asking, I'm going to clarify that there was most likely an issue with our flashlight blinding drivers. I would never accuse them of lying about that. We were not the only team that was forced to unplug their flashlight though. After we received the complaint, the head ref asked all teams to shut down their flashlights.

For our second event, we will be working on ways to avoid the flashlight issue(such as pointing the beam at the bottom of the tower so it can't get people's eyes, as well as adding a dimming capability.

As for the people asking which light we used, we used a pocket flashlight that one of our team members bought at a hardware store, I don't remember what the part number was exactly, but it was about 6" long before we chopped off the battery compartment.

[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by jijiglobe

After we received the complaint, the head ref asked all teams to shut down their flashlights.

As a team using vision quite heavily, this concerns me. We only turn on the lights to grab a single frame to identify the target but a blanket ban on lighting would negatively impact how we operate.

Now that a precedent has been established - do we need to ask a Q&A to expand on what defines "distracting" and what criteria must be met for those of us who want to use vision processing.

-s

[3072Cap]

Originally Posted by wilsonmw04

we use a Blinding Bright LED Flashlight

Fixed

But really, you guys were really bright at SWVA. Definitely lit up the tape.

[jijiglobe]

Originally Posted by Andrew Schreiber

As a team using vision quite heavily, this concerns me. We only turn on the lights to grab a single frame to identify the target but a blanket ban on lighting would negatively impact how we operate.

Now that a precedent has been established - do we need to ask a Q&A to expand on what defines "distracting" and what criteria must be met for those of us who want to use vision processing.

-s

To clarify, we also had a camera with an LED ring, however, due to issues with FMS blocking our connection to our tegra, we were not using it for anything. They did not make us unplug the LED ring, just the flashlight.

[Coach Seb]

Any guidance on using the Cree flashlight would be totally awesome... we do have a spike relay.... assuming that would be connected on the Relay port on the RIO and then a voltage regulator between the Spike and the light to get me to the right voltage should do right ? Any picture would be appreciated.

[apm4242]

Originally Posted by Coach Seb

Any guidance on using the Cree flashlight would be totally awesome... we do have a spike relay.... assuming that would be connected on the Relay port on the RIO and then a voltage regulator between the Spike and the light to get me to the right voltage should do right ? Any picture would be appreciated.

4242 used a setup like this at the CHS Greater DC District event with great success. Not only did it provide a bright focused beam for aiming at the low goal (we're a low goal shooter), but more importantly, it was actually bright enough to shine through the Sally Port and Drawbridge "wood" decals. Our driver was able to use it to square up to the defense without seeing the robot.

We used the following:
- LED Flashlight with zoom
- DC-DC Voltage Converter/Regulator
- Spike Relay

The LED flashlight had internal circuitry that allowed for 3 modes (high, low, flash). We only wanted the high setting so we took the circuit board out and wired the LED board directly to the voltage converter. This made wiring much easier as the LED board fit cleanly back inside the original housing. More conveniently, we used the metal clip on this flashlight as a mounting bracket by reversing it and drilling out the hole a bit. Next, we locked the flashlight in the zoomed position using a zip tie. Finally, we used a bunch of hot glue to secure the wires inside the area where the battery would go.

So, the full setup is how you described - Power Distribution Board > Spike Relay (with pwm wire connected to the Relay port on the RoboRIO) > Voltage Converter > Flashlight. FYI - We soldered all connections but lost power connection somewhere in our semifinal match during a BIG collision. We're still not sure what happened but we know it's the power because the relay still responds to the driver's commands.

Sorry I don't have any photos because the robot is currently bagged up. I can also provide screen shots of our labview code if anyone's interested.

[Coach Seb]

Thank you very much !!!! and yes LV screen shot would be totally awesome !

Thanks a bunch !

[Jonathan Ryan]

Team TRx 145 would love to see screen shots of the LabView code!!!!

Thanks