VIDEO COMMUNICATIONS BETWEEN TEAMS

[jspatz1]

This is a fabulous idea! Imagine having dozens or even hundreds of teams to call on for help at a moment's notice! Imagine having immediate, effective help with the same kinds of problems you would otherwise post on CD and wait days for answers. With a live list of all teams participating, the possibilities for immediate, tangible help from multiple teams would be wonderful. Participating teams could establish a habit of always logging in during their working hours so they are available, or even outside of working hours if a team member enjoyed being "on call." Portable cameras could show views of mechanical problems, see robot behavior, look at parts, look at wiring, share screen views of programming code or CAD, or just provide face-to-face collaboration. You could even show off your latest milestone, or just take a break and socialize. Teams could post information in their profile such as their specialties of expertise, their working hours, specific problems they have helped with, etc.

I would vote for Skype. It is very widely used, very easy to load and run, is lightweight running in the background, shows a realtime list of who is online, and connections work very well across PC-Mac platforms in my experience. Skype is now beginning to be available on smartphones, and multiple user conference calls are in beta and will soon be released. Whatever the choice, one platform would need to agreed upon so that everyone is on the same page. As far as I know video call clients are not yet as cooperative as IM clients.

A screenname convention could be established so that a team's name is predictible, such as "frcteam.1986", and you can locate them without knowing their name.

Let's not let this idea get away. It could be easily organized right here on CD. The software is free, and cameras are cheap (get one with the microphone built in for simplicity.) It could be a quantum leap in the amount of collaboration (collabortition?) that takes place within FIRST. If I were heading a rookie team, I would be all over this.

PS: For those not familar...video call clients such as Skype, Fing, oovoo, are totally free, and only require a webcam and a broadband internet connection. I am not familiar with others, but Skype is simple to install, works great with about any inexpensive webcam, and you talk for hours for free. Its crazy but true.

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by jspatz1

A screenname convention could be established so that a team's name is predictible, such as "frcteam.1986", and you can locate them without knowing their name.

I like this idea.
Of course, each team would have to manage this somehow - can't have just some kid own the account, who isn't truly representative of the whole team.

[JB987]

Team 987 set up a video conference portal via its Team987.com website this past season to facilitate sharing primarily between us and 842, 39 and 1726 ("The Desert Alliance"). It took awhile to iron out some of the bugs and was used a few times then contacts slowed down once the hectic build got into full swing. We hope to make better use of it with the new season. A well maintained system could be a big benefit to all of those involved.

[krudeboy51]

well it would probably depend on what the problem is, for example- if its a programming problem, the programmer go and help the person or team in need on this video call

[Basel A]

What you could do is just have skype or whatever running on a computer at your meetings. If someone needs help, they see that 2337 (or whoever) is online and make a "video call." Since it's going on during a meeting, someone will notice this and help out (or find someone they who can help).

[EricH]

I think Basel's idea is the most feasible to implement. Not everyone needs help all the time, but when you do, it's nice to know who else is available. And, Skype does make noise when someone wants to call you.

The thing is, though, that if a team is building in their school or running the program on a school computer, they should check with school administration/IT to be sure that they're OK with it. (A computer use policy would also be a good thing to check.) Teams that don't have clearance could easily get in trouble with school bureaucracy if they just did it (and we all know that that sort of trouble is to be avoided at all costs...). Ditto for corporate.

Also, slow connections are bad. My parents and I used to do video calls pretty often. Then I moved to a place with slower internet, and we're down to chats or me hunting for faster internet if we want to do a video.

Suggestions:
1) Put it on a generally accessible computer.
2) Set IDs to team number and maybe name.
3) Set status to Online whenever you're actually on...and Away (or something similar) when you aren't. That way teams needing help know that you're not available.

[Basel A]

Yeah, definitely would need to check that policy. For those working in school workshops, chances are it'll need an exception from administration.

Also, for secretive teams, don't point the camera at your workshop

[Mr. Lim]

I've used Vyew.com for this type of application in the past. It's free, and allows you to use a webcam, share your desktop, and for users in the conference to collaborate at the same time.

I'm hoping some of the CD community can look into Vyew.com and see corroborate whether it would be a good fit for inter-team communications.

[Travis Hoffman]

Good idea! http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ighlight=skype

I've also been looking into web-based meeting tools such as DimDim (www.dimdim.com) for online meetings between NEOFRA teams. The latest version permits up to 10 computers (i.e. teams) connected to the same videoconference. It also permits desktop sharing, whiteboard, and other NetMeeting-style collaborative tools. I've not tried it out yet but hope to do so during the fall once teams get back in the swing of things at their schools.

[GGCO]

I too would love to see something like this implemented. However, haven't there been efforts like this before that all have failed? For example, I remember (but cannot find) a thread last year that suggested we do the same thing using IRC and some special software. Or the thread about using Google Wave during kickoff (I think this idea had mild success to put it best). Another example is the (or lack of a) FRC team naming convention for twitter.

In order for this idea to take off, there will need to be several experienced and respected CD members using this system who will attract teams looking for help, and everyone would have to adhere to some set of standards. Some how this has to go viral but in an orderly fashion.

Ideally, a website like CD or TBA (something that has a big reputation in the FRC) would "sponsor"/promote/coordinate it. Realistically, neither of these two sites are going to want to write code for video conferencing (although there might be an open source API out there...).

What they could do is have a page that lists all the team's unique skype or whatever ids with a description of what that team has offered to give advice with. The rest would be up to those teams who gave their name.

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by GGCO

However, haven't there been efforts like this before that all have failed?

So let's be the year that doesn't.

[Chris is me]

Shaker has used Skype for inter-team collaboration and discussion before. It works about as well as you think it would.

I think I'll bring up the idea of leaving a computer on with Skype open during build meetings. Seems like there's a lot of good and not much harm that can be done with such an idea.

We don't need "video conferencing code" when Skype exists right now and anyone can have a video call with anyone at any time.