Cameras on poles for viewing the field

[JR0405]

Originally Posted by DareDad

That may not be a great idea. There was a team using, or trying to use, a patio umbrella base that weighed at least 40 pounds. It was heavy enough that it was causing the drivers station shelf to slope quite a bit under its weight.

While a wide base is probably a good idea, a 40 pound chunk of steel that could fall on your feet is likely to be called a safety hazard.

Your correct however their base was fairly small but big ones might cause an issue

[cbale2000]

Originally Posted by Cash4587

I highly recommend one of these:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Fiskars-1...966J/100153111

Also, we used a go pro with a 27" hdmi screen, and absolutely loved the quality.

We had better luck with the go pro hero 4 than the hero 3+ being better quality when streaming from the camera directly to the screen.

I looked at a few different poles at Home Depot when we built our setup, the painters poles and tree trimmer poles were ridged but overkill in my opinion (plus heavy, making it harder to hold up), eventually I came across these.

They come in like 3 different sizes (got this one before the rule change, in retrospect we could have gotten a smaller one), but they're great because they're very light, compact, and are more than ridged enough to support a small camera. We used a PVC DWV Closet Flange adapted down to short 1-1/4" PVC pipe that fits the pole nicely and mounts to the driver station with strong Velcro.

As for the camera, we just use a Logitech C920 Pro Webcam with a 6ft usb extension into our 17" laptop (we also have a small 7" HDMI screen that can be used do display either the camera or dashboard as a second monitor).

[Eryl2000]

We had a camera pole at the District event we attended last week and it was extremely helpful. The height limit, created by the GDC due to safety concerns, was still plenty high for the pole to be useful in almost all situations. As the coach, I found myself almost constantly watching the camera pole monitor. In fact, I may have watched the monitor more than our actual robot!

[engunneer]

Originally Posted by team-4480

Is having a camera still worth it at 11' 8"? Does anyone have a picture of what the field looks like at that height? Thanks!

2067 Apple Pi has posted two videos of the field taken from the GoPro on top of the pole:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-Lj4L4g1o4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da9zwSaKZmw