Lights to help aim

[bigbeezy]

Originally Posted by Ninjastahr

No, I mean just looking at the camera to see the goal on the driver's station without processing the images. You can just have a set line of black pixels (using the NIVision.imaqDrawShapeOnImage() or imaqDrawLineOnImage()? in Java) in the center of the image, line it up manually with the center of the goal, and shoot the ball into the goal. It's really just as easy as setting up a spike.

As stated above, most drivers don't like looking down at the driver station. So either you'd need some form of HUD so that the driver can look at the robot and view the camera at the same time, OR simply use a flashlight to shine onto the goal to show that the robot is aligned or not. Also, any lag in the camera image showing on the dashboard will affect your accuracy. Both can be viable ways of doing it.