Cameras Getting Smashed

[DjAlamose]

Looking through the pictures I have seen quite a few robots using the camera which is a great thing. The only problem I see is that allot of them are not guarded at all. A few of them are right next to where balls enter the hoper from HPs. So my question to all of you is how many cameras do you think will become broken due to balls being thrown at them or robots falling over. My guess is at least one or two per regional.

(no poll becasue I want to hear your response)

[KyleLT1987]

I noticed that as well. Initially one of our team mebers didnt feel it was important to gaurd the camara becuase we have it mounted 5 ft high. After much talk he finally decided it was best to protect it. We have our encased in a real light "hood" made out of 16 gauge aluminum..it seems to be working pretty well

[steven114]

We have a hood made of aluminum and plastic - looks somewhat like an upside down helmet visor.

[Greg Marra]

We have the camera mounted behind our turret with an extra bar of aluminum going in front of it to keep balls out.

What you really should be worried about is the camera falling out. Last year, our camera fell and we ran it over and bent all of the pins. Luckily it wasn't destroyed; we bent the pins back. In testing, our camera lens FLEW off and landed about five feet from our robot in the grass, simply from the force of a ball in our turret. We're getting small screws to mount it securely in place.

[ThomasP]

At the velocity balls are launched at, I don't think they can mess up the camera... we tried to get our robot to power off by throwing a ball at it as hard as we could but it wouldn't flip the power switch so I doubt a ball could break the camera.

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by ThomasP

At the velocity balls are launched at, I don't think they can mess up the camera... we tried to get our robot to power off by throwing a ball at it as hard as we could but it wouldn't flip the power switch so I doubt a ball could break the camera.

I would still be wary. last year we had our camera working (and in a plastic box) and it got bumped by a tetra i believe. No visible damage (we still have it) but it didn't work after that. these cameras are more fragile than most people think; the power switch should not be your only concern.

[Éowyn]

I think that one camera will break(as in:shatter ) and three to four will just quit working per regional.

[devicenull]

Originally Posted by KyleLT1987

I noticed that as well. Initially one of our team mebers didnt feel it was important to gaurd the camara becuase we have it mounted 5 ft high. After much talk he finally decided it was best to protect it. We have our encased in a real light "hood" made out of 16 gauge aluminum..it seems to be working pretty well

It's 5ft high until you flip over.. then it's the perfect height to get hit. We learned this at the UTC scrimmage..

[Daru]

we tried to get our robot to power off by throwing a ball at it as hard as we could but it wouldn't flip the power switch

Just be careful, before we had the hopper built on our robot, the balls would fall straight down about 4 feet onto the robot power switch after being brought up our conveyer-style loader. The robot would turn off once in a while, if the ball landed squarely on the nub

I think the camera needs a lot of protection. It seems pretty fragile. The lens tends to lose focus slowly just moving the camera around and one bump and all the cords come out. Perhaps you guys have taken care of the problem... (we do not have the camera on our robot... we're going to try to get it for the competition...)

If you have it at the top of the robot, and you are running the risk of falling over (on the ramp or whatnot) you should make the guard strong enough to ward off some bumps and scrapes, if not a full-speed robot ram. If you put the camera in one of the radio shack project boxes, I don't think a ball-hit would be too much of a problem unless it hit directly on the lens peice.

Dave
~706

[KyleLT1987]

Originally Posted by devicenull

It's 5ft high until you flip over.. then it's the perfect height to get hit. We learned this at the UTC scrimmage..

Which was takin into consideration. Like I said, it is encased in a "hood" made out of 16 gauge alumium. Furthermore, it is 5ft high and mounted in the center of the robot, we flip (highly unlikely) and the camera is still all around protected.

[Steve S.]

while some cameras are mounted high and people dont think the can get hit.....how about a flying poof ball hitting it? lets think for a minute...

I think the field it going to be filled with broken camera pieces and parts...okay, maybe not filled, but you get the point