Posted by Steven Tine.
Engineer on team #111, Wildstang, from Rolling Meadows & Wheeling HS and Motorola.
Posted on 2/20/2000 1:17 AM MST
I noticed that Q142 (Update #5) mentions that you must ship the control system
with the robot…does that include all the parts of the player’s station (joystick setup,
button box, etc…)? It would be nice to have the manipulator spend lots of time
‘becoming one’ with the button box. Also, it would be handy for teams with another
control system to use their real player’s station while practicing between
competitions.
Then, whatever the answer is to the previous question, I would ask if the player’s
station falls under the ‘cease robot construction’ rule? If after Tuesday-5pm the
manipulator/driver have a change that they would like to make to the button box/joystick
setup would it be OK to construct the change? It seems that FIRST is encouraging
teams to design elaborate player’s station (with the open parts rule) and it would not
be a problem to contine work on this between competitions.
Any thoughts on this one? This is only my second year so I am curious about the
‘in the spirit of FIRST’ answer.
-Thanks,
Steve
Posted by Nate Smith.
Other on team #66, GM Powertrain/Willow Run HS, from Eastern Michigan University and GM Powertrain.
Posted on 2/20/2000 9:32 AM MST
In Reply to: Player Station…to ship or not to ship? posted by Steven Tine on 2/20/2000 1:17 AM MST:
: I noticed that Q142 (Update #5) mentions that you must ship the control system
: with the robot…does that include all the parts of the player’s station (joystick setup,
: button box, etc…)? It would be nice to have the manipulator spend lots of time
: ‘becoming one’ with the button box. Also, it would be handy for teams with another
: control system to use their real player’s station while practicing between
: competitions.
: Then, whatever the answer is to the previous question, I would ask if the player’s
: station falls under the ‘cease robot construction’ rule? If after Tuesday-5pm the
: manipulator/driver have a change that they would like to make to the button box/joystick
: setup would it be OK to construct the change? It seems that FIRST is encouraging
: teams to design elaborate player’s station (with the open parts rule) and it would not
: be a problem to contine work on this between competitions.
: Any thoughts on this one? This is only my second year so I am curious about the
: ‘in the spirit of FIRST’ answer.
: -Thanks,
: Steve
Our team’s interpretation of this rule is that all control components (joysticks, button boxes, VR helmets, etc.) have to be shipped with the robot. However, the mountings for the control system as a whole(in our case a plexiglas ‘suitcase’) do not.
Nate