…Then again, maybe we’ve got a few more years to go before we eliminate paper entirely from our way of living…
Nevertheless, Team 296 has come up with a system to complement the printout match lists we get at competitions, and we want to share it with the FIRST community.
Based on something we had last year at the Canadian Regional and in Galileo Division, the idea is that one team at an event maintains a wireless network and a webserver, and other teams can use their web browsers to access a Flash application which displays an automatically generated list of their qualification matches, no download or hunting through the printout required. The Flash application is in constant communication with the webserver, and shows a countdown to the teams next match and keeps track of field lateness, among other things (see attached screenshot).
Last year we hosted a similar service at our events, and we got quite a few requests from other teams for the software so that they could host it at events they attended. So this year, in the spirit of gracious professionalism, we’re giving the system away for all to use. I’ve put all the software together in one easy install, and in one week (in order to catch any bugs first) I’ll put it up for download on the Sundial homepage. Besides this software, all that’s needed is a wireless router or access point and one or two people to maintain the database.
I’ve put a simulation of Sundial online at sundial.patfair.net/sundial/ which is currently simulating a small tournament of made-up teams. Please try it out and let me know what you think and if there are any bugs. Log in as any team between 1801 and 1812 to get it to work.
You can also take a look at the control panel for Sundial here. Log in as user “team0000” and with password “FIRST”.
I’d love to know what you think of Sundial, and of any improvements you think I could make. Also, if any team wants to host Sundial at an event, please give me a shout and I’ll update my list of events located on the Sundial homepage.
This is beautiful stuff. Very well-executed and clean, even on the back side.
I would like to throw in one concept, though. Since you’ve already got the teams and alliances in the database, how hard would it be to add in the results of those matches?
Nothing like knowing that our team just went from fifteenth to fourteenth in the past two minutes, eh?
I’ve thought about this a lot myself, and personally I would love to have something like this - it would eliminate the need to have someone go look at the rankings and then wait 5 minutes for our team ranking to crawl onto the screen…
The reason I haven’t put it in though is that it would mean a lot more work and pressure for the people who are constantly updating the database - it’s easy enough to hit a button when a match begins or when you hear a “last call” over the intercom, but if you make a mistake entering the results of a match, it can throw off the rankings for the rest of the event. And then there’s that complicated tie-breaker system… Maybe someday FIRST will provide something like this which will just tap into their rankings database…
This is a good idea, but in the future were going to have digital paper, were only a few years before companies release it.
On the digital paper we’ll be able to store stuff, read it, put it on a computer.
And of course most people just like reading off of paper more than off a computer, I know I do, even though I read a lot more on the computer.
Do they let you use a wireless network at the events? I had this grand plan for scouting with little hand held computer thingies and a wireless network, but a guy on my team said they wont let you use wireless in the building.
Traditionally, FIRST has not allowed access to the Internet at competitions. Use of intranets has not been directly addressed.
Still, I’d recommend anyone planning to set up a wireless network to drop FIRST a line to make sure it’s alright. This may well be one time where it’s easier to seek permission than forgiveness.
Basically, it works like this: one team, the host team, installs a pretty complicated software package onto their computer (complicated because it contains Apache, PHP, MySQL and BIND as well as the Sundial files). They then set up a wireless network and connect their computer to it. The teams who want to use the service simply connect to the wireless network, go to an address in their browser, and click a link, and it runs right in their web browser. It’s designed to be as easy as possible to connect to.
FIRST usually doesn’t have a problem with wireless networks, as long as they don’t interfere with its own. As Billfred said, it’s a good idea to ask first, and we did so at the Canadian Regional last year, but we didn’t bother for the Championship - there were several networks already floating around there anyway.
is there going be a team with it at finger lakes, buckeye or nats this year? i would love to get one at each of those events it will save us a whole lot of time in the pits.
Is there any way to setup a system to know who will be hosting the network at each regional? Also, are any instructions on setting up all the server software available?
I can do this at VCU, no problem. It would be my pleasure really…
That said, we should make sure multiple teams don’t do this, or it would quickly become a pain. I think we should keep a scouting database seperate from this, code-wise. It just doesn’t make sense to mix the two. If anyone is interested in doing this in Perl, I’m game.
I’m keeping a list here of the events at which Sundial will be availible. So far, besides at the events we will be at (UTC, Toronto, and whatever division we are in for the championship), Team 1418 has generously offered to host the service at the NASA/VCU Regional.
The software and instructions will be online this weekend, once I write some documentation and once a few bugs in the installation software are fixed.
Ok, the Sundial software has been all packaged up into one easy msi install for Windows, or a much smaller zip for Linux if you already have a web server set up.
You can download either version on this page.
Installation and operation instructions can be found here, and should be read before proceeding.
Please let me know if you find any bugs, either by e-mail or by PM.
Don’t forget to let me know if your team wants to host Sundial at an event, and I’ll add your team to the list I’m keeping here.
Just looked at it, looks nice. Few minor things you may want to consider.
On the top of every page you have
mysql_connect ("localhost", "sundial", "4294967296") or die ('My SQL Error: ' . mysql_error());
mysql_select_db ("sundial");
It would probably be easier for any other person running this software if they had to change this info once, instead of in every file. It’s a pretty simple fix for this, put
<?php
mysql_connect ("localhost", "sundial", "4294967296") or die ('My SQL Error: ' . mysql_error());
mysql_select_db ("sundial");
?>
Into a file, called say “config.php”, then have every page that needs sql access do require("./config.php");
I like it, its nicer then the match sheets.
Edit: Where are you going to be running the server at the competitions? Pits or viewing area? Not sure if one WAP will cover both, at nationals it wouldn’t
I wasn’t really counting on anybody having to view the code, let alone edit it. I figure the only reason someone would have to change that line was if their MySQL server was on another computer, which is pretty unlikely in such a mobile situation as a robotics competition. I’ll probably change this anyway in the next version, though, thanks for the tip.
We’re going to be running our server in our pit, because the main intention of Sundial is to provide this information to the people in the pit. If we want to extend the coverage to the stands, or if we’re having range problems, we’ll just set up another two access points in a repeater configuration.
No promises, but if I end up having the time/will to do it I could probably run it at San Jose and Sacramento, along with possibly acting as a repeater at Nationals.
