FRC Vision system, Narrowing our options

[Porpoise]

Hello! Our team is working on our new vision system to use for build season and we’re experimenting with a few different things. One of the biggest things we were interested in was using a Google Coral for image processing and field piece recognition. However, before we really fully commit to this we wanted to get different opinions. Our other options would be to purchase a higher version of Limelight since we have a Limelight 2 or use photonvision. To anyone reading this with experience in these approaches, what would you recommend, and what has been your experience with your chosen approach? We have not seen many teams use the Coral so we would be very interested to see any team’s attempts or successful application of it.

• Brennon, The Robodox

[crueter]

The Coral worked wonderful with a 2+. PhotonVision may be getting ML support next year? I can’t remember, but if so, invest in an Orange Pi 5 and a few Arducams, as it will give you much better performance than a limelight for a lower price.

[truher]

I strongly support rolling your own with orange pi or raspberry pi, now that they’re available again. coral works well , the code is like a page. it’s a good opportunity to learn the basics of computer vision and communication.

[leo-les]

If your team is able to, running a custom vision system gives you a lot more flexibility and performance for a lower price. Running an Orange Pi with two Arducams is really compact and cheap setup, but if you want a slightly easier vision system, you can use a beelink mini pc instead of an orange pi (although it does take up more space). There’s a pretty good CD thread outlining the pros and cons of different vision setups.

Anand's Coprocessor Roundup - Which Is Best? (also, an Orange Pi setup guide)

I have summarized my adventures in coprocessors in this document: The tl;dr is that I highly recommend the Orange Pi 5 to anyone who can get one off Aliexpress (shorter lead time than Amazon right now). The Beelink Mini S with N5095 is a good option for teams willing to put in slightly more work. However, with the newest Photonvision releases, setup for any coprocessor is very easy. The primary differentiator is in hardware setup, and in that game, the Orange Pi 5 wins against the Beelink, an…

If a custom vision setup is outside of your teams comfort zone, getting a newer limelight model is a good approach. Just make sure you understand what your team is capable of. Especially as we get closer to kickoff, any working vision system is better then one that you run out of time to finish.

[asid61]

@leo-les

but if you want a slightly easier vision system, you can use a beelink mini pc instead of an orange pi (although it does take up more space).

Fwiw the Beelink is harder to use than the Orangepi. It has higher power requirements and is more difficult to wire, as well as being more expensive. I would use the OrangePi 5 if possible.