Bills Blog - Classmate announcement

[JohnBoucher]

From Bills Blog....

• AC power at drivers station.
• Use any PC instead of classmate

One character at a time


Good Afternoon Teams,

I’m typing slowly with my left hand because I had carpal tunnel surgery yesterday, but the show must go on (and this is much more interesting than recuperating at home).

News from the GDC who are writing the Game Manual right now:

• The 2011 game field will have powered AC adapters for the Classmate in each driver station. The adapter may only be used to power the Classmate and the power outlet dedicated to the AC adapter may not be used for any other purpose.
• Teams will not be restricted to the Classmate as their driver station in 2011 assuming that certain criteria are met and all relevant rules are followed. More details on this rule will be available in the Game Manual when it is released.
• The 2011 Driver Station software will support Windows 7 and XP. Other operating systems have not been tested.

FRC is launching the Beta version of a Virtual Technical Advisor (VTA) system this week. Everyone is invited to visit https://my.usfirst.org/FIRSTPortal/L...ual_login.aspx where teams may request help and adults with technical skills can offer assistance. The system will match teams with technical advisors who are then encouraged to communicate through whatever means best suits them (skype, email, live chat, etc.).

The Chairman’s Award, Woodie Flowers Award, and Website Award submission systems open in STIMS tomorrow Thursday, November 11th and close Thursday, February 17th. The FIRST Dean’s List Award submission system, originally scheduled to open tomorrow, will be delayed until the award criteria for 2011 is finalized. I’ll let you know when it’s ready.

New this year, Team Main and Alternate Contacts will be able to see in TIMS when the student submitters have submitted awards. (The Main and Alternate Contacts will not be able to see the award submission itself, just that it is complete.) If your team has not yet assigned student award submitters, now is a good time to take care of that.

My congratulations to team 3132 Thunder Down Under who have been accepted into the TEDx Youth @ Sydney ideas conference where they will spread the word about FIRST. You can see their submission video here.

My congratulations and best wishes to Tony and Samantha Norman who were married this past weekend. Tony has been a supporter and contributor to FRC for many years.

Please note that AMEX/Take Part voting for FIRST officially closes at 11:59pm ET on Sunday, November 21st. Get your votes in.

59 days to Kickoff
See you then!

[synth3tk]

Originally Posted by JohnBoucher

• Teams will not be restricted to the Classmate as their driver station in 2011 assuming that certain criteria are met and all relevant rules are followed. More details on this rule will be available in the Game Manual when it is released.
• The 2011 Driver Station software will support Windows 7 and XP. Other operating systems have not been tested.

Very awesome news! I can think of quite a few models (depending on the requirements) that have much better battery and performance than the Classmate.

[apalrd]

It would be awesome to use a good laptop, and run a 3d model of the robot on the dashboard. Where it thinks it is, where it wants to be, what it is doing, everything represented in a nice visual model (Although numbers are still nice for tweaking). This would only be required if the robot had an arm or something of the like, since a ball shooter wouldn't require much 3d representation.

The way he worded it, it sounds as though you have to use the provided laptop to get AC power. More info in January, I guess.

[synth3tk]

Originally Posted by apalrd

The way he worded it, it sounds as though you have to use the provided laptop to get AC power. More info in January, I guess.

I was thinking the same thing. It only says "Classmate". In the current wording (and not necessarily what may be legal in a few months), it would appear that you're on your own for battery power. But then again, if you're using a different machine, battery power may not be an issue.

[Nick Lawrence]

This makes me very very happy.

Soon to be gone are the days of running around trying to borrow a battery during eliminations!

-Nick

[Jared Russell]

SO HAPPY!

The Classmate is a great, cheap little laptop (with its own charm and set of nuisances). But nothing tops freedom!

[Brandon Holley]

Allowing teams to use something other than the classmate just makes sense.

The classmates add a decent amount of cost to the kits, and while they do their job well, a couple of years from now some of these classmates will be hanging by a thread. It just makes sense to allow teams to use any laptop they have, especially if teams lose/break/forget their classmate.

Good Job FIRST.

-Brando

[Dustin Shadbolt]

That's awesome. No more worrying about the battery. Whew.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Bill,
Thanks for the great early Christmas Present!
Al

[dag0620]

Well it's about time!

I'm pretty happy about this change!

For me, I never really hated the classmates, and 1071 never really had problems with it. What I am happy about now though is that if you need a replacement laptop, or a 2nd one for a backup robot, you don't have to go through the hassle of getting an official FIRST one.

Let's just hope the official rules with the power outlets get realized soon so we can figure out if it is classmate exclusive or not.

[DonRotolo]

Originally Posted by JohnBoucher

The 2011 game field will have powered AC adapters for the Classmate in each driver station. The adapter may only be used to power the Classmate and the power outlet dedicated to the AC adapter may not be used for any other purpose.

(emphasis mine)

A powered AC adapter is NOT the same as AC Power. The post means that the same kind of adapter that teams use to charge their Classmate - delivering DC power - will be at the drivers station for teams to use.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by Don Rotolo

A powered AC adapter is NOT the same as AC Power. The post means that the same kind of adapter that teams use to charge their Classmate - delivering DC power - will be at the drivers station for teams to use.

Just wondering: Does anyone have (and can share) insight into the factors that led to this decision?

If limiting power was the primary concern, why not just put a fuse (or breaker) on each AC outlet? That couldn't be any more expensive than purchasing a bunch of Classmate chargers, could it?

I'll take a stab at answering my own question. Chargers for standard-size laptops require more power than a Classmate charger? And they didn't want a bunch of complaints about popping fuses and/or tripping breakers?

[Al Skierkiewicz]

I can tell you why I lobbied for backup power at the driver's stations. If a team fails in a match because the power on the Classmate failed then that is problem. I saw it on more than one occasion throughout the season and I know that in the finals on Einstein at least one team had to be backed up with a battery and inverter to keep the team playing. This measure should go a long way to keep that from happening.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by Ether

Just wondering: Does anyone have (and can share) insight into the factors that led to this decision?

The decision I was referring to is this decision:

The adapter may only be used to power the Classmate and the power outlet dedicated to the AC adapter may not be used for any other purpose.

... any other purpose... like powering a laptop instead of a Classmate

[J93Wagner]

The way I understood it was that at each station, there will likely be at least two 120V standard slots like there would be in a normal house. One is dedicated to the classmate adapter and the other is empty and ready for general use. That was the way I understood it, but then again, I'm just theory crafting. What can I know for sure?