Keeping RC during shipping

[echos]

I was wondering when you goto ship the robot weather or not you are allowed to keep the RC with you for testing and debug purposes.

[Jedi Padawan]

My team usually uses the previous years controller as a "backup" and programs on it while the current one is shipped. But seeing as last year and this year they keep changing the controller every year we are kinda stuck programming with the edubot and hoping it translates right into the "big Bot" although we should have our robot built ahead of time and at least working enough to move by our scrimmage date.

[pras870]

Actually, you can keep your RC after you ship your robot. I remember our rookie year, before we shipped our robot to nationals, we took ithe controllers, and made a really cool lexan box for it, and no one said anything (except when I tried to get on the airplane with it, bomb threat anyone?)

[Dave Flowerday]

Originally Posted by pras870

Actually, you can keep your RC after you ship your robot. I remember our rookie year, before we shipped our robot to nationals, we took ithe controllers, and made a really cool lexan box for it, and no one said anything (except when I tried to get on the airplane with it, bomb threat anyone?)

Just because you were able to keep your RC without anyone saying something about it to you doesn't make it legal. To my knowledge, the only time you were ever allowed to keep any part of the control system was last year, and even then it was only the OI you were allowed to keep, not the RC. If you did keep your RC, you probably broke the rules but got away with it. Same deal if you kept your OI in any year other than 2003.

[KenWittlief]

they let us keep the operator interface last year so you could use it with your Edu bot between ship date and competition.

Personally, I dont think there is much you can do with the OI and RC without the rest of your robot

and if you are planning on buillding a second (pratice) robot you can buy a second RC from innovation FIRST.

[Jones571]

some teams like ours builds a second bot to use for practice we assemble it after the 6 weeks to have extra time to do autonomous and practice. this will only be a good idea again if we can get ahold of an extra 2004 RC or get to keep ours

[KenWittlief]

our team, after ship date - we REALLY need that time - we dont want to see each other for a while :c)

[KevinB]

Originally Posted by pras870

Actually, you can keep your RC after you ship your robot. I remember our rookie year, before we shipped our robot to nationals, we took ithe controllers, and made a really cool lexan box for it, and no one said anything (except when I tried to get on the airplane with it, bomb threat anyone?)

Keeping your RC certainly isn't legal. Think about all the programming improvements that could be made between ship date and competition day.

However, as much as it hurts to say this, you probably wouldn't be caught if you chose to keep the RC. Lets just try to be gracious professionals.

[DanL]

Originally Posted by KevinB

Keeping your RC certainly isn't legal. Think about all the programming improvements that could be made between ship date and competition day.

However, as much as it hurts to say this, you probably wouldn't be caught if you chose to keep the RC. Lets just try to be gracious professionals.

From the rulebook:

11.2.4 Crate Contents (Required)
Teams must include their robot and the two batteries. Unplug the batteries, put electrical tape on the terminals, and pack them in a small box separate from the robot.

It doesn't specifically mention the OI/RC. In the past, I believe we had to ship the OI/RC, but my memory is weak on that. This is something that should be asked in Q&A.

[KenWittlief]

'their robot' is specific - their entire robot

you can keep your RC as long as you dont intend to use it on your robot at the competition :c)

you CAN tinker with your code after the ship date - use the EDU bot - its not that much different, and it runs the same code (mostly the same).

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by SuperDanman

It doesn't specifically mention the OI/RC.

but going to the definition of ROBOT from section 4, it is anything that is placed on the field. Since you definetly want the RC on the field, you would need to ship it.

[ErichKeane]

The other things you could do are:
1-Get a good programmer that doesnt need testing! Testing is only for those who cant get it right the first time! (little programmer joke there, ignore if you dont get it).
2-Have your programmer make the adjustments necessary (as the difference between the shipping day and competiton day are hopefully not huge), and test on the practice day!
3-Do all your programming in the 6 weeks! My team is having myself and one other person do all the programming, just using a multimeter, the controller/IO, some speed controllers, and a laptop computer. We think that we can get 75% of the job done by the end of today, with only things like arms and alternative mechanisms left. It also did help that our EDU bot was used exclusively from the day we recieved it by the programming team to get a final version of the drive system complete. (complete gradient 1 stick control!).

[echos]

It just helps to keep the RC for some extra development time since out team is rather small and everyone ends up doing a bit of everything. Like I'm stuck in the middle of programing and designing gear boxes in inventor.

[DanL]

Thought I'd bump this back up since update #5 adresses this:

FIRST will allow you to keep your all of your operator controls (Operator Interface, OI power supply, joysticks, etc.) and not ship it with your robot on Tuesday, 2/24/2004. This will allow you to continue to work on your programming.

FIRST has spoken.

[Winged Globe]

Originally Posted by SuperDanman

FIRST has spoken.

Wait.. how will keeping the operator interface really help this year if the eduBot isn't supposed to interface with it? Or did I miss something?