Sundial Feedback 2007

[AdamHeard]

I would comment, but I could never connect to the network long enough to get it running....

[Sean Marks]

Sundial is a wonderful program and it really helped us at championships, thanks. Cant wait to use it again. Will it be at monty? im just wondering

[Protronie]

Sitting here at home and work I was going bonkers not knowing if I'd miss my fav team. Sundail was a gift from the gods as I could work my around the matches I wanted to see. I would have loved to sit and watch ever match but thats impossible if you still going to TCB.
Thanks Sundail, the teams that made this happen, and NASA from bringing it together.

PS I really enjoyed watching what I was able too... I have got to make it to Champs and Boilermaker next year for sure!

[118 Tech]

Imagine a automatic, one computer solution to recording and archiving match footage. Arrive at a FIRST event, plug the field video feed to the computer and interface Sundial or the FIRST field. When matches complete, the computer waits till the score is posted, tags the file with the score, clips the match to one file, and automatically begins transcoding the file to Divx or WMA.

I believe I can help develop the software to make this happen using the recording software I work on, Beyond TV. A little background on me, I was a member of the Robonauts, Team 118. After I graduated college I now work at a software company called SnapStream Media. Our company writes software that records television to your computer. One of Robonaut engineers approached me at Lone Star with this idea and using our software to make this concept happen. After attending nationals and seeing how people record match footage with VCRs, I decided that I really would like to make this a reality.

I would like to lean more about how sundial interfaces with the FIRST field and what information is available. I would like to begin working on this over the next few months and would like to be able to test this out somehow with Sundial or Field software. Any help on learning how this works would be appreciated. Hopefully by next year we can get this soluion to many regionals, or at least Lone Star.

[Tsom467]

We used Sundial last year in Boston, and was looking forward to it this year, both in Boston and possibly in Rochester. Unfortunately, it was in neither place

[KTorak]

What is the probability of Sundial being able to continue to be linked to the scoring computers at regional events for 2008? I've love to host it at an event, but my team doesn't have the man power to have a dedicated person keep it up.

[lynca]

Originally Posted by KTorak

What is the probability of Sundial being able to continue to be linked to the scoring computers at regional events for 2008? I've love to host it at an event, but my team doesn't have the man power to have a dedicated person keep it up.

I am also interested in running a Sundial system. Is anyone writing a white paper ?

[dpraedan]

If I'm correct, Pat had said that 4fx and FIRST just hadn't gotten the link up and running for the regionals. However, it's really not that tough to run, I organized and ran it at SVR. Once you have it set up, it's simply a matter of having someone sitting in the stands clicking "started" for matches, and the software does everything else itself. I'd be more than happy to write a white paper, with tips for fixing problems I ran into and other suggestions.

[Pat Fairbank]

Originally Posted by Conor Ryan

Another idea I had to prevent security problems like what we unfortunately had would be to make it an encrypted network with a very easy to use key like, "sundialisthebest".

That's actually a really good idea - it would stop random computers set to "Connect automatically to non-preferred networks" from wandering on. Thanks!

Originally Posted by Mike Martus

We had many problems with the service. We kept loosing signal ( it was weak) and could not get on. With all the other activities we had to devote time to it became a "Nice to Have" but no time to play with it.

Was the fact that there were dozens of other wireless networks set up by teams ( in violation of FIRST rules - I think) causing the problem?

That, and the GWCC and Autodesk networks were causing some problems as well (although there's nothing we could do about that).

Originally Posted by KTorak

What is the probability of Sundial being able to continue to be linked to the scoring computers at regional events for 2008?

I really couldn't say. Both FIRST's staff electrical engineer and "the developer" from 4FX expressed interest in integrating Sundial into the scoring system next year, but I've heard the same thing the past two years, and haven't gotten the support I've needed until late in the season. My biggest problem working with FIRST has been the high turnover rate in technical staff and different scoring systems - only time will tell if something can be worked out for 2008.

[Madison]

Is there any chance of Sundial making a return in 2008? We used it when it was working in San Jose and it was helpful.

[Schnabel]

I can't speak for every reagional, but I know that it will not be reapearing at BMR this year. FIRST won't let me run it this year due to problems at championships last year. (???)

[aksimhal]

Originally Posted by Schnabel

I can't speak for every reagional, but I know that it will not be reapearing at BMR this year. FIRST won't let me run it this year due to problems at championships last year. (???)

Almost same here. Sundial is not permitted at the VCU regional this year !

[fimmel]

anyone have any info for BAE and sundial? it was great to have the year it was there and working

...forest

[Pat Fairbank]

Originally Posted by M. Krass

Is there any chance of Sundial making a return in 2008? We used it when it was working in San Jose and it was helpful.

I wouldn't count on it. FIRST recently issued an advisory to all FTA's warning them not to allow Sundial to be used at any regional.

The problem at the Championship last year was that sometimes the scoring computers were experiencing a slowdown in saving the match scores to the database. We weren't able to do any testing to make sure, but it was postulated that the slowdown was being caused by the Sundial server accessing the event server database at the same time to get the match scores and standings.

[aksimhal]

Maybe we could do some more testing during the off-season events. I'm sure FIRST would be more lenient about SunDial then.