We have decided on going for an on board tracking system due to the bandwidth limitations in place this year. We are using the RoboRealm program that runs on a Windows based PC.
Right now we are trying to decide which device to go with, we have it narrowed down to two devices. A Samsung Ativ Smart PC 500T, with an Intel Atom Z2760 or a Mini-Box Embedded PC with an Intel Atom 1.86Ghz processor. Each system has its advantages and disadvantages, please weigh in your opinion.
It looks to me like the Samsung violates <R12>.
What is the concern regarding the Samsung device?
Surely it’s not under $400.
R12 Issue. Price was not in the original link however a google search shows for not less than $599.
I found out today that a local business has a similar tablet that is willing to let us use it for our robot. I’m not sure what kind it is, but I take it the rule is that if it’s over $400 it can’t be used, whether or not the team actually pays for it?
Yes, see R14 (Unless you can convince them to donate to every FIRST team).
Another issue with tablets is they often only have wireless communication. See R62. There is a question (Q370) about whether its legal to use a device that has wireless capability, as long as the wireless is disabled). It has not been answered yet. Without an ethernet port, it would be very hard to get the data from the tablet to the cRIO.
You’d have to use a USB to Ethernet adapter.
Honestly I see no reason why a tablet belongs on a robot. It has a display in battery which are simply not necessary and take up more surface area. They are more expensive than Mini ITX style PCs that you can build our buy yourself for much less (check out the Zotac boards, we’ve used one with good success), without violating any rules.
It depends on what camera you’re trying to use. If you’re not set on using RoboRealm, here are a couple of white papers where people have used Raspberry Pi’s or other single board PC’s with Python to accomplish the task.
We decided on the cheaper option, I guess I need to brush up on my rules, thanks for the catch.
Our question is now, can we have a secondary computer on the driver station that is simply a VNC into the on board computer to view what the Kinect is seeing?
Why would a secondary computer be needed?
That would fall under R59.