On board shock datalogger?

[MadgeTech]

"The basic thing to change would be the battery; it would be really nice to be able to run the Shock101 off of another electrical source. Our robots always run on a 12-volt lead-acid non-spillable battery"

I checked with the engineer who designed our shock loggers, and he says they can take a 12V power input. The thing is that lead acid batteries, when fully charged are closer to 13.6V. Technically, this is about 0.1V over the limit, however, there are also some diodes in line (about 0.2V drop) so this should work.

I will reply to any other specific questions as they arise.

-Eric

[MadgeTech]

OK, I read some of the rules, and it looks like FIRST is trying to encourage the use of Commercially available Off-The-Shelf technology (COTS), while at the same time limiting the amount anyone can spend on such equipment to make things fair.

From the 2007 rules, here are the sections I found useful:

Section 8: The Robot

8.2: Definitions.

Our shock logger falls under the category of COTS
As a company, MadgeTech can be considered a VENDOR

8.3.4.2: Additional Parts and Materials Rules

Part of the purpose of the FIRST Robotics Competition is to provide team members with the
experience of conceptualizing, designing and constructing their own solution to the challenge
posed by the game. This must be a consideration when obtaining MECHANISMS and COTS
items as additional parts to use on the ROBOT.
This intent is clearly met when a team obtains a MECHANISM or COTS items that was designed
for non-FIRST other than robotic competition purposes, and then modifies or alters it to provide
functionality for the ROBOT.

R51: The total cost of all non-Kit Of Parts items must not exceed $3,500.00 USD. No individual item shall have a value of over $400.00. The total cost of components purchased in bulk
may exceed $400.00 USD as long as the cost of an individual component does not exceed
$400.00.


The list price of a stock Shock101 is $599; we have in the past offered an educational discount of 25% off list which brings the price down to $449.25. Bulk discounts apply to purchases of 5 or more units, and we can also lease the loggers for a smaller fee.

[MadgeTech]

Hi all,
The new 2008 rules have been released, and as far as I can tell, the section on COTS parts remains unchanged from 2007 (listed in my last post).

Visit the following link and choose Section 8 on ROBOT for details.

http://www.usfirst.org/community/frc...nt.aspx?id=452

[dlavery]

Chuck and Eric-

I just saw this thread, and wish I had seen it earlier so it could have been addressed before kick-off. This is a very nice idea, and I think that it has the potential to provide some very useful data and answers to a few questions that we have had for a while. I would urge you to contact FIRST directly (don't wait for the Q&A system - go straight to the source; PM me if you need to know who to contact) and work with them to see if this could either fit under the "non-functional decoration" rules or be granted a waiver. If all the data is logged on board and not used in real time during the match, and all the data were shared with the rest of the teams, I don't think that there would be an issue.

-dave

[MadgeTech]

Dear Dave,
Thanks for your interest, and I have sent you a private message.

In addition to our shock recorders, I suspect our DC voltage loggers would come in handy to many teams. We offer them in single, 4, and 8 channel units, and in ranges from ±100mV up to 30VDC (the 15V range would be ideal for monitoring anything from teh 12V battery on down).

http://www.madgetech.com/dynamic_sit...p?type=voltage

We also have pulse recorders that might tie in well with PWM's, ultrasonic ttransducers, or anything else with a dry contact output. The Pulse110 samples at 1KHz and totalizes the results at a user-specified rate of 1 second or slower.

http://www.madgetech.com/dynamic_sit...php?type=pulse

We have engineering units built in to the software (and even programmible into the logger) that automatically convert pulses into units that make sense to your application. One great example of this in action is our Wind Speed recorder, which is a reed-switch anemometer tied to a pulse110 preprogrammed to give average wind speeds at 10 second intervals:

http://www.madgetech.com/products/Wind110

All of these loggers can be communicated with using a single interface cable, which comes in serial or USB.

http://www.madgetech.com/accessories/IFC110
http://www.madgetech.com/accessories/IFC200

I look forward to answering any application questions that relate to our full line of data recording products.

Sincerely,
Eric Swanson
Technical Sales Engineer
MadgeTech, Inc.

[Pavan Dave]

Originally Posted by dlavery

Chuck and Eric-

I just saw this thread, and wish I had seen it earlier so it could have been addressed before kick-off. This is a very nice idea, and I think that it has the potential to provide some very useful data and answers to a few questions that we have had for a while. I would urge you to contact FIRST directly (don't wait for the Q&A system - go straight to the source; PM me if you need to know who to contact) and work with them to see if this could either fit under the "non-functional decoration" rules or be granted a waiver. If all the data is logged on board and not used in real time during the match, and all the data were shared with the rest of the teams, I don't think that there would be an issue.

-dave

Could you by any chance post FIRST's response so that other teams that have ideas that fit this "non-functional decoration" waiver deal (that may or may not be granted) could use it? I myself am interested in data logging but of multiple different sorts (software, voltage, etc.,) but its just hard sometimes to come up with that due to the $400 rule.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Chuck and Eric,
I for one would like to see what data these recorders would bring to the competition. I will agree with Chris and Don above, if approved for use, they cannot be used for robot control, and should be included in weight.
However, the data may prove invaluable and I for one would recommend (if asked) that FIRST allow Madgetech to install devices on random robots of their choosing, at some of the regionals. If this co-operation were to be allowed, I would think the official rules might be bent to allow the devices to be installed on these random robots.