What kind of robot to build for a convention?

[kmcclary]

Originally Posted by kmcclary
People LOVE "pets" and other things that exhibit life-like actions. IF you have VEX, the Vex programming kit, and a camera & servo platform from last year, I suggest you build a "green light worshipping robotic PET/MASCOT".

Originally Posted by team2061

Sounds very cool, do you happen to have pictures?

Not on me today (and we're leaving shortly for the week to attend the St. Louis Regional, so I won't have time to find and post them, sorry).

I'd advise contacting someone on Team 470. It's their bot. I'm sure they'll have pics they can post or send to you.

It's really simple, though. Build the Vex demo "box" frame. Mount the CMU2 camera on the IFI (FRC kit) pan/tilt (or make a pan/tilt out of Vex as well), then bolt it to the top of the box. If you use the earlier year rev of the kit CMUCam2 Camera, the pan/tilt servos run directly off of the camera board.

I think there's only two considerations:
1) Powering the CMUCam2 camera from the Vex battery. I'm not sure if it'll run straight off of 7.2V, or if you'll need to add a low drop out 5V regulator between them for it. (It's been a while since I've looked at the camera hardware.)
2) Telling the Vex base which way the camera is looking, so it knows which way to turn. I'm not sure how 470 had the camera inform the base of its status (serial link, digital outputs from the camera to digital inputs on the base, wiring switches to the pan axis to see which way it "looked", or what...)

I've emailed 470 and asked them both questions. Hopefully they'll join in on this thread. (If not, I'll relay the answers, when I get back.)

- Keith McClary
Chief Engineer, FRC 1502, "Technical Difficulties"
"We make easy things look hard, every day!"

[lukevanoort]

I have noticed that kids seem to like our 2007 robot quite a bit. My theory is that since it is only like 3ft tall, it isn't very imposing to them (about their height). Then it expands to 9ft tall and towers over everybody, especially them. So, I would try to build something a bit smaller than your average FRC robot if you're going after a younger crowd. An older crowd might appreciate something a little taller so they don't have to bend down so much to get a good look at it.