Integrating Computer Vision with Motion Control - FIRST Championship Conference

[Tom Bottiglieri]

I thought I'd share a clip we took today prepping for this conference presentation. We will definitely be going through all the pieces it takes to get a robot tracking like this!

[billbo911]

Tom and Jared, will you guys be discussing the realities of being able to process frames faster than the camera can produce them?

For example, a camera's maximum frame rate is listed at 30 frames per second, but your vision processing board can process over 80 frames per second.

[James Tonthat]

Too cool for school!

[marshall]

Originally Posted by Tom Bottiglieri

I thought I'd share a clip we took today prepping for this conference presentation. We will definitely be going through all the pieces it takes to get a robot tracking like this!

I didn't know you guys had ILM as a sponsor. I kid.

Seriously cool and I'm really looking forward to this talk now.

[billbo911]

Some additional questions.
What is the minimum frame rate you feel is acceptable for FRC?
How much lag is acceptable and how do you cope with it.
What is the most efficient way to get targeting data into the RoboRio (TCP, UDP, Serial etc.)?

[pmangels17]

I think it will be addressed, but I would be curious to hear exactly how much control on 254 is done by drivers vs with vision. What are your failsafes if the vision board suddenly crashes/shorts/explodes?

Also, what other sensors do you combine with vision for a more complete picture of your control system. For example, if you want to know distance to a target, are you using only a camera for that, or are there other sensors that you use to crosscheck your measurements.

And, specifically on your robot, how do you relay to the drivers that everything is in position for a shot? Is there a giant green check mark, does the system just not let you fire until it's ready, is the firing also controlled autonomously, or do you have a different solution?

[Jared Russell]

Originally Posted by pmangels17

I think it will be addressed, but I would be curious to hear exactly how much control on 254 is done by drivers vs with vision. What are your failsafes if the vision board suddenly crashes/shorts/explodes?

The operator holds a button saying they want to auto aim, and the driver holds a button saying that it's okay to shoot. Everything else is autonomous.

[JesseK]

Originally Posted by Jared Russell

The operator holds a button saying they want to auto aim, and the driver holds a button saying that it's okay to shoot. Everything else is autonomous.

Hmm - including sensing on the intake and ball pre-positioning?

[Jared Russell]

Originally Posted by Ether

Do you know if the speaker will be fitted with an on-person mic that feeds electronically into the recorder?

Not sure, but I'll bring this up.

Originally Posted by jreneew2

When to use vision and when to not use vision. Last year, we had a mentor work on tracking the yellow totes for a couple of weeks and we didn't end up using it at all. :/

While this is not a strategy talk first and foremost, we will most certainly discuss this. In particular, we will look back at the history of vision in FRC and you will quickly notice how often the vision challenge is a diversion for the majority of teams.

[JesseK]

Mostly likely, I won't be able to attend the conference (either session at 7pm), but I do have a question and a few examples of what I mean.

What are some rules of thumb for the prerequisites to attempting vision?
- Great PID Control (fast settle, little/no overshoot) or "Good Enough" PID Control
- Level of precision on drive train turning or (auton) "drive straight" distance offsets
- For high-load situations, is a braking mechanism necessary

[dcarr]

Originally Posted by Jared Russell

While this is not a strategy talk first and foremost, we will most certainly discuss this. In particular, we will look back at the history of vision in FRC and you will quickly notice how often the vision challenge is a diversion for the majority of teams.

I think it's interesting that Stronghold seemed to present the "perfect storm" of factors that made vision a viable and extremely value asset for a larger-than-ever subset of teams.

Looking forward to this talk!

[Cog]

Originally Posted by Jared Russell

Are you having a tough time coordinating vision with motion?


Does buggy vision make your robot grasp at things that aren't there?


Do you wish your robot had superhuman powers of perception and control?


If so, join us at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, April 27 in Room AC265 of the America's Center at the FIRST Championship for our session on "Integrating Computer Vision with Motion Control".

Here's the abstract:


This will be presented by Jared and Tom from Team 254, who (together with Austin from Team 971) brought you Motion Planning and Control for FRC last season. We had a great response (and a packed house!) last year, and have incorporated your feedback to make this session even better. To ensure the session is approachable for all levels of experience, we plan on focusing on concrete FRC problems (like auto-aiming a shooter) while showing how concepts like understanding how your camera works, being smart about tuning your vision algorithms, utilizing kinematics, and applying motion control best practices can make your solution better...we want to help teams compete while also opening your students' eyes to how professional roboticists approach similar problems.

And the great news is that all Championship Conference talks will be recorded this year, so you don't need to choose between this session and Karthik's...you can have both!

I'm sorry if I missed it, but do you know where will the recordings of these seminars be made available?

[axton900]

^ Where will the recordings be located???

[Steven Smith]

Last year's might have been posted elsewhere, but it was on Youtube

Let's keep in mind that these presenters are on top tier teams that likely need their support for the next couple days as they compete. Last year's video was posted ~5-6 days after champs ended, and while I can't speak for the presenters, I would assume you can expect it sometime in the next week or so with a link to it in this thread. I wouldn't want to try to upload that large of a video via hotel internet myself.

That being said, if you haven't watched last year's or if it has been awhile, you can pass the time with the 2015 video which was also very awesome and applicable. I'd argue for the majority of the teams, maybe more applicable than this year's.

[Ether]

Originally Posted by Jared Russell

And the great news is that all Championship Conference talks will be recorded this year, so you don't need to choose between this session and Karthik's...you can have both!

Originally Posted by Jeanne Boyarsky

Someone said they were short so only recording one per timeslot

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