Go to Post A good engineer will never stop learning. From his peers, technicians, and competitors. The field is just to vast for any one person to know it all. - Mr. Mike [more]
Home
Go Back   Chief Delphi > Competition > Rules/Strategy
CD-Media   CD-Spy  
portal register members calendar search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read FAQ rules

 
Closed Thread
Thread Tools Rate Thread Display Modes
  #1   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 06-02-2003, 22:06
Jeff Waegelin's Avatar
Jeff Waegelin Jeff Waegelin is offline
El Jefe de 148
AKA: Midwest Refugee
FRC #0148 (Robowranglers)
Team Role: Engineer
 
Join Date: Aug 2001
Rookie Year: 2001
Location: Greenville, TX
Posts: 3,132
Jeff Waegelin has a reputation beyond reputeJeff Waegelin has a reputation beyond reputeJeff Waegelin has a reputation beyond reputeJeff Waegelin has a reputation beyond reputeJeff Waegelin has a reputation beyond reputeJeff Waegelin has a reputation beyond reputeJeff Waegelin has a reputation beyond reputeJeff Waegelin has a reputation beyond reputeJeff Waegelin has a reputation beyond reputeJeff Waegelin has a reputation beyond reputeJeff Waegelin has a reputation beyond repute
Rotating Light

Now, before anyone dashes off a quick link to the first "rotating light" thread they find, does anyone know if there is a definitive answer on mounting the light? I've searched here and the official FIRST forums, but there's just too much contradiction to wade through.

My specific concern is: can the light be momentarily retracted or turned out of the way (i.e., with a spring or pneumatic). I've yet to find two similar answers to this question.
__________________
Jeff Waegelin
Mechanical Engineer, Innovation First Labs
Lead Engineer, Team 148 - The Robowranglers
  #2   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 06-02-2003, 22:07
Jeff_Rice's Avatar
Jeff_Rice Jeff_Rice is offline
ElementisRegamusProelium
#1359
Team Role: Programmer
 
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Linn County
Posts: 283
Jeff_Rice will become famous soon enoughJeff_Rice will become famous soon enough
Umm.. Yes. This was mentioned in those threads. FIRST says its okay for that to happen for a few moments.
__________________
"He said my name is Private Andrew Malone
If you're reading this then I didn't make it home
But for every dream that's shattered another one comes true
This car was once a dream of mine now it belongs to you
And though you may take her and make her your own
You'll always be riding with Private Malone" David Ball, "Private Malone"
  #3   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 07-02-2003, 14:32
Joe Johnson's Avatar Unsung FIRST Hero
Joe Johnson Joe Johnson is offline
Engineer at Medrobotics
AKA: Dr. Joe
FRC #0088 (TJ2)
Team Role: Engineer
 
Join Date: May 2001
Rookie Year: 1996
Location: Raynham, MA
Posts: 2,633
Joe Johnson has a reputation beyond reputeJoe Johnson has a reputation beyond reputeJoe Johnson has a reputation beyond reputeJoe Johnson has a reputation beyond reputeJoe Johnson has a reputation beyond reputeJoe Johnson has a reputation beyond reputeJoe Johnson has a reputation beyond reputeJoe Johnson has a reputation beyond reputeJoe Johnson has a reputation beyond reputeJoe Johnson has a reputation beyond reputeJoe Johnson has a reputation beyond repute
difficult answers...

FIRST has made it quite difficult to interpret this year (imho).

As best as I can figure it, the following covers 99% of the rules concerning the light:

You have to have the light mounted bottom side down to meet the "upright" requirement and not just in the starting position. Essentially, except when going under the bar, the light must be bottom side down. If you fall over like Beatty did last year you have to have your light keep its bottom side down both before and after the fall (perhaps by mounting it on a swivelling base for example).

You have to have at least 4 inches of the light "exposed." "Visible" is not good enough. For example, it cannot be behind clear sheet of polycarb. Exposed means exposed -- why? Because that is what FIRST wants, that's why!

You can (for brief periods of time) retract or dip the light to get under the bar.

You may not have the bar hit the light to retract or deflect it (for example, you cannot mount it on a spring that just gets deflected by the bar as the robot runs the light into the bar).

You can have the bar activate a switch that would tell the controller to retract the rotating light but you cannot have the bar itself retract the light.

In my mind it is still not clear if you can have a bar hit a lever that retracts the light, but I think not as it would run afoul of the rules against reacting against forbidden field surfaces. But... ...I could be wrong on this point.

So...

...have I got it about right?

Comments welcome.

Joe J.

P.S. A summary from FIRST would be very helpful -- if anyone from FIRST is out there reading, please take note.
  #4   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 09-02-2003, 15:38
illumanat'i's Avatar
illumanat'i illumanat'i is offline
make me care
#0555
Team Role: Student
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 110
illumanat'i is an unknown quantity at this point
Send a message via AIM to illumanat'i
exactly... the light can go down and up for a few seconds to get under the bar, but it has to go down/up under its own power, not by being pushed down by the bar (i.e. motor or pneumatics)
__________________
Trust, Love, and Magic
  #5   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 09-02-2003, 17:01
evulish's Avatar
evulish evulish is offline
1010100
AKA: Grant Harding
#0084 (WATTNESS (bot: Chuck))
Team Role: Alumni
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Towanda/Wysox, PA
Posts: 1,434
evulish is just really niceevulish is just really niceevulish is just really niceevulish is just really nice
Send a message via AIM to evulish
If you take the rules literally, you can have 1.2 seconds where your light is not visible.
__________________
I'm a professional web developer. I'm good with PHP, Perl, Java/JSP, some RoR, XML, Javascript (AJAX as well), (x)HTML, CSS, etc.. Validated code is good; fully cross-browser code is better (you comply to your users and the software they use, not the other way around. Sorry!)
  #6   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 09-02-2003, 17:14
Yan Wang's Avatar
Yan Wang Yan Wang is offline
Ithaca is Gorges
AKA: John Wayne
FRC #0639 (Code Red Robotics)
Team Role: Alumni
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Rookie Year: 2001
Location: Cambridge, MA
Posts: 1,910
Yan Wang has much to be proud ofYan Wang has much to be proud ofYan Wang has much to be proud ofYan Wang has much to be proud ofYan Wang has much to be proud ofYan Wang has much to be proud ofYan Wang has much to be proud ofYan Wang has much to be proud ofYan Wang has much to be proud of
Send a message via ICQ to Yan Wang Send a message via AIM to Yan Wang Send a message via MSN to Yan Wang Send a message via Yahoo to Yan Wang
The rules confuse me on this topic. What if you are a stacking team? if your stack goes above the height of your robot or the highest part of your stacking mechanism, your light will obviously be blocked from view from one direction. What happens then?
__________________
Code Red Robotics Team 639 Alumnus | www.team639.org
<Patrician|Away> what does your robot do, sam
<bovril> it collects data about the surrounding environment, then discards it and drives into walls
  #7   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 09-02-2003, 17:25
Natsume Natsume is offline
Registered User
#0256
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: San Jose, CA
Posts: 7
Natsume is an unknown quantity at this point
I have a feeling that FIRST might be a little more lenient on the rulings of this.

Last year, during the Silicon Valley Regional, they were a lenient on the rulings of a line to touch the opposite ends. No wires or lines, but meausre tape was allowed...Anyone think they'll be a little more lenient on that ruling this year?
  #8   Spotlight this post!  
Unread 09-02-2003, 22:46
illumanat'i's Avatar
illumanat'i illumanat'i is offline
make me care
#0555
Team Role: Student
 
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: New Jersey
Posts: 110
illumanat'i is an unknown quantity at this point
Send a message via AIM to illumanat'i
in my limited opinion, first rules are based on the robot as it starts.... if stacking causes the light to get blocked, they won't care, because its not important... if the stacker device blocks the light without boxes, your screwed, but the boxes themselves don't matter...

its like saying the goal blocked the light from view last year, or the ramp blocked it this year... who cares... as long as the light can be seen "MOST" of the time, the odd few seconds stacking or going around the ramp won't matter (period).
__________________
Trust, Love, and Magic
Closed Thread


Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Please...no more steenkin' light! Andrew General Forum 37 17-04-2003 23:06
Lights on our robot (in addition to the rotating light)... archiver 2001 1 24-06-2002 01:02
rotating light archiver 2000 1 23-06-2002 23:06
Important info about light Jay Lundy Technical Discussion 10 12-04-2002 11:37
Please help me with the size of the rotating light!!! bigqueue Technical Discussion 5 21-01-2002 09:40


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 11:56.

The Chief Delphi Forums are sponsored by Innovation First International, Inc.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2017, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright © Chief Delphi