Are any teams planning on using the shadow line in the hangar to automate climbing? If so, what solutions do you have for sensing the line? In case our view is obstructed during climbing we kind of want to be able to automate climbing.
Was just thinking about this ourselves. Considering buying 2 of these sensors and using one on each underside of the robot to determine if the robot is aligned.
I’m also curious about what kind of tape is likely to be used to make the shadow line for testing.
Section 5.2 in the manual would seem to suggest it will be black gaffers tape.
FIELD zones and markings of consequence are described below. Unless otherwise specified, the tape used to mark lines and zones throughout the FIELD is 2-in. (~5 cm) 3M™ Premium Matte Cloth (Gaffers) Tape (GT2) or comparable gaffers tape.
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I am thinking matte black tape on a grey carpet will be difficult to detect.
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So, I could be wrong about this, but the difference may not be in color but surface reflectivity. Carper is not reflective, or would scatter the light enough to be a dim return. Whereas tape would provide a solid surface for reflecting back making it detectable.
The tape is also matte in finish. Presumably, the grey carpet will reflect more light than black tape. I suspect a lot of alliances are going to send the third HUMAN PLAYER down to station 1 to direct traffic for the climb(s).
I’ve been around gaffers tape and field setup enough to say that the tape is not highly reflective.
But it is a consistent color when new. The carpet is varied.
That’ll be fun for the third alliance team 
If the point of the gaffer tape is aligning the robot and it’s not sensible (even for human eyes), what’s the point of it, LOL? The sensor I linked from AM would appear to be one that projects a red beam, so it’s not sensing the difference between black and grey, but between a well reflected red light and one that isn’t, right? Seems like the tape could reflect that. But, perhaps I’ll just have to test and find out.
We’re currently running tests using black gaffers tape on grey carpet. There is a difference in reflectivity. Data not ready for sharing yet, once we get results we’ll post along with sensor info.
We purchased the Andy Mark Banner Sensor referenced above by @BlueEpiphone. We did not have any luck using the sensor to tell the difference between the gray carpet and the black gaffers tape. Did @Zook or anyone else find a sensor that works to detect the gaffers tape?
We tried with the old Allen Bradley RightSight sensors with no luck. Hasn’t been high enough of a priority to test out other sensors.
Asking students to make a 1-page write up for what they’ve got so far. Quick version (without data) is they’re using a HiLetGo TCRT5000 photoelectric sensor hooked up to a comparator circuit.
It’s been slow going because they’re learning as the go! Hope to have the info by Thursday.
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