Are FIRST robots actually robots?

[Taylor]

If in fact we are not building robots, does that make our work any less important or inspirational?

[Andy Baker]

Originally Posted by boiler

If in fact we are not building robots, does that make our work any less important or inspirational?

Agreed... Mike is right on here.

I've talked to various people at demos and such who think FIRST is no big deal because they think that FRC robots are not real robots. After talking a few minutes about autonomous modes and some of the programming and sensing challenges involved, some of these people still think that FRC 'bots are not robots. Then, I mention the whole mentoring and inspiration part of FIRST.

At that point, if they STILL want to argue that FRC does not involve robots, but rather remote-controlled devices, I agree with them and hope they don't ever get involved. Mabye I'm quick to judge here, but if someone is that hung up on a simple definition and can't see the point of the program, then we're probably better off without them.

AB

[Jack Jones]

What’s in a name? That which we call a robot, by any other word would smell of magic smoke.

[Wetzel]

Originally Posted by Jack Jones

What’s in a name? That which we call a robot, by any other word would smell of magic smoke.

If it smells of magic smoke, it is a robot? I would think if it smells like magic smoke it used to be a robot.

Wetzel

[GaryVoshol]

FLL's got robots!

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by GaryV1188

FLL's got robots!

Yeah, they do. No teleoperation there. Well, maybe a little bit of dead reckoning, or point-and-shoot.

[Adam Y.]

Originally Posted by Richard

Yeah, they do. No teleoperation there. Well, maybe a little bit of dead reckoning, or point-and-shoot.

Because Lego robots don't turn into a massive disaster if you misprogram it.

[Imajie]

Originally Posted by Adam Y.

Because Lego robots don't turn into a massive disaster if you misprogram it.

Well, neither should ours if its built well enough; however, they may cause a huge mess if not programmed correctly.

[Adam Y.]

Originally Posted by Imajie

Well, neither should ours if its built well enough; however, they may cause a huge mess if not programmed correctly.

Well by disaster I mean everything besides the robot well be in danger.

[Imajie]

Originally Posted by Adam Y.

Well by disisaster I mean destroy everything besides the robot.

Yeah, I misunderstood your first post.

That happened to us in '05 we were testing auto mode and the robot took off into all the desks in the classroom while we scrambled trying to turn it off.

[EHaskins]

Originally Posted by GaryV1188

FLL's got robots!

Thats true.

Does it make sense that the FLL robots made mostly by middle school students are autonomous, but the FRC robots, build by high school students and real engineers, aren't?

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by EHaskins

Thats true.

Does it make sense that the FLL robots made mostly by middle school students are autonomous, but the FRC robots build by high school students and real engineers aren't?

As Woodie or Dave said at kickoff a couple years ago, "We know autonomous is hard - that's why we make FLL do it."

[Imajie]

Originally Posted by EHaskins

Does it make sense that the FLL robots made mostly by middle school students are autonomous, but the FRC robots, build by high school students and real engineers, aren't?

You kind of need to think about the games that each plays. FLL plays games by themselves while FRC bots compete both with and against other bots.
Programming autonomous for just your own bot is one thing, making it have to interact with the 5 other bots on the field is another.

[Dave Flowerday]

Originally Posted by EHaskins

Does it make sense that the FLL robots made mostly by middle school students are autonomous, but the FRC robots, build by high school students and real engineers, aren't?

Let's see how well those FLL robots can do autonomously when there's 5 other robots on the field, and game objects which roll around and are effectively in random locations all the time...

[efoote868]

<off topic>
lets give FLL mplab... the CMUcam, a few gyros, ultrasonic rangefinders, geartooth counters, IR rangefinders, limit switchs, and potentiometers. We'll just see how much their robots will do then.
</off topic>

I say if it still has magic smoke inside of it, and is capable of at one point releasing that magic smoke, its a robot.