Not so long ago, Team Unlimited was given an opportunity to meet with some senior members of the FTC leadership. We got to talk with them for a few hours about the program, kits, etc. Below are our notes in Q&A form.
-------
Q: How many controllers can be operated on the new system?
A: Two controllers can be used to operate the NXT for the new FTC challenge. The system is laptop based and transmits controller data to the NXT through a blue tooth dongle. In competition there will be a central computer being operated to control all the rounds. Each NXT has a unique address that allows Bluetooth signals to be sent to it in order to perform functions during operator mode.
Q: What does the controller connect to in order to operate properly in operator mode? Are there any limits on the amount of robots that can be run at any given time?
A: As stated above, a central competition computer will run the rounds. Switching out of autonomous mode will be determined by this computer also. The Bluetooth dongle on this computer will communicate to NXTs on the field. There is no theoretical limit for this system, but a practical limit must be introduced or else a lag occurs in the system with too many signals being received and transmitted.
Q: How are the drive motors controlled? (e.g. H-bridge, speed controller, etc.)
A: There will be multiple “black boxes” mounted on the robot to control the motors, daisy chained to a single NXT sensor port. There are 2 of the DC controllers units (each DC controls two motors) and 1 of the servo control units (driving up to 6 servo motors). LEGO NXT motors are controlled directly though the NXT controller.
Q: Who are the new sponsors for next years providing the metal, sensors, programming, etc.?
A: HiTechnic, National Instruments, and Pitsco (LEGO Education). Pitsco is proving a large portion of the metals for the new kit, custom made.
Q: Are the parts in this kit commercially available?
A: Yes, the providers of the parts realize that the parts will be under stresses from usual competition strains. Seeing this, new parts will be available in the form of kits, such as a metals kit that includes a selection of metals in one kit. (NOTE: This is similar to the Aluminum kit that Vex provides that has many metals in one kit, no idea on prices yet)
Q: For next season, will teams be able to buy more of these metals, sensors, etc.? Will there be kit restrictions?
A: Teams will be able to purchase new parts for the kits, for spares, additions, etc. Dealing with kit restrictions, the teams will have their electronics limited, including motors and sensors.
Q: What is the average range for the controller in operator mode?
A: The range for this system is about 30-50 ft, more than needed to run on the competition field. One can see a substantially larger distance depending on the particular dongle and area where the robot is being driven. (e.g. a large open room without obstructions will get a much larger range than a cluttered room full of boxes).
Q: How many types of wheels will be available in the kit?
A: There are two sizes available in the kit as of right now. In the demo, most of the teams used the larger wheel to get more speed from their robot, but there were two wheel sizes included in the kit.
Q: How many control channels are available?
A: There are two joysticks, an eight way d-pad, and eight buttons. (NOTE: The controller we used was similar to the Logitech PS2)
Q: What vex components in addition to the metal can be used next season? (e.g. wheels, gears, chain, etc.)
A: For the time being only the Vex metal will be allowed to be used in the competition for next year.
Q: Will we able to modify the Lego and metal components?
A: You will be able to modify the metal components as you have been allowed to for FTC competition for the 2007-2008 season. The Lego components will not be allowed to be modified at the current time for competition.
Q: Will there be a rotation sensor provided in the kit?
A: Yes, there will be a rotation sensor in the new kit. The one that was installed on the demo robot (they were US Digital rotation sensors) may not be the final sensor included in the when it is released.
Q: How open is the kit? Can we use components not provided in this kit? (e.g. other metals, other sensors, etc.)
A: The kit will be relatively closed, there will be the ability to buy new metal for the kit. There is the possibility of other materials being added to the kit to allow teams to fabricate parts for their own use.
Q: Will there be continuous rotation servos that can be purchased for the kit?
A: There will be 170º / 180º servos. No regular servos can be used besides the NXT Lego motors provided with the kit. The 170º / 180º servos will not be allowed to be modified to become continuous rotation servos. The servos in the kit were HiTec 475 servos.
Q: Will there be more sensor connections available? (e.g. connection extenders)
A: There will be one daisy chained box for four touch sensors. There is the possibility for other connection extenders being provided at a later date for other sensors besides the touch sensors.
Q: Has the strength of the connection between the metal and Lego components been improved? Several teams expressed concern about this after collisions that caused the Lego components to fall off.
A: These connection points have not been altered since the demo exhibition. (NOTE: On the robot we were shown, the connections did not seem to been weak at all).
Q: For the Bluetooth dongle, are there any recommendations? Are there any dongles that are best?
A: The DLink DBT120 is recommended. In the kit there is a dongle provided. Bluetooth dongles that don’t require the installation of additional drivers over the Microsoft drivers are best as they cause fewer problems for the users. Loading a driver might add complications cause problems for the robot. (NOTE: They said Toshiba chipset dongles seemed to cause problems in testing, might want to avoid these).
Q: Are there any problems with the Bluetooth system currently?
A: There seems to not be any problems once the link is established. The only major problem occurs if the user unplugs the dongle during an active connection to the NXT. To fix this remove the batteries from the NXT, reset, and reconnect the controller.
Q: Are there any there any changes to the competition format for next year?
A: Nothing too major will change; they would like to see the use of more sensors by teams in the competition.
Q: Are there any major kit changes that will occur from between now and when the kit is released?
A: The optical shaft encoders that are on this robot might not be the final encoders at the time of the kits release. Also the DC & Servo motor control units will have a redesign for esthetics, not for function.
Q: Is there a limitation for the number of “channels” for the new Bluetooth communication system?
A: No, but there is a problem when too many signals are in the same area. There might be a tether, like for Vex, in the pits to cut down the chatter in the network.
Q: How much of a kit was used to make the demo robot here?
A: The robot shown here is about 2/3 of the kit planned to be provided.
Q: What is the material on the bottom of this robot, and will we able to use this in competition?
A: This is a sheet of polycarbonate. We are hoping to provide some material like this to the teams so that they can use it for shielding, decoration, etc. in the competition.
--------
I hope you all like this!
Regards,
~Patrick Pilvines, Head Engineer Team Unlimited, FTC #1
I will provide a link to our site ((http://eaglevex.syraweb.org)) to the offical page, when we get all the photos processed.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Sunday, May 18, 2008
A review of the new FTC kit (Part 1)
Hello all!
Patrick here from Team Unlimited posting the much overdue review of the new FTC kit. Team Unlimited has been working for a long time trying to scramble together all of our notes and opinions in order to get this review finished.
This is part one of a multi-part series. I will try to get the next part up ASAP. Please leave comments below about your opinions on the kit, your experiences with the kit, etc.
Thank you!
Regards,
~Patrick, Engineer of Team Unlimited
--------
NOTE FROM TEAM UNLIMITED:
Team Unlimited has not gotten any time to work with the mechanics or programming parts of this kit. The comments in this review are from teams in the demonstration pilot and also from various FTC teams that Team Unlimited talked to.
--------
THE KIT:
STRUCTURAL PARTS
Metal
Positives:
+ Light weight aluminum
+ Strong
+ Many holes pre-drilled into metal stock
Negatives:
- Often had problems with fitting metal together
- Metal seemed to be from various sources and thrown together
- Hole spacing reduced (went from 1/2 " from Vex to 1")
- Often had to use tools just to get parts to fit together
- Not went for fine manipulations
The aluminum was a nice addition. Being light weight and strong is a nice addition to the kit. The teams felt that this was a very nice addition, but some felt nostalgic towards the steel and aluminum parts of the vex system. They felt that the the steel was better suited for the chassis and the aluminum was better suited for superstructures. This kept the center of gravity low. This problem might be reduced knowing that the teams can still use the vex metal, but it has yet to be seen how well the interface between the kits will be.
The holes that were predrilled where in a circular pattern allowing to easy of mounting parts at various angles. Teams did say that they encountered problems with the hole spacing. The Vex system had hole spacing of 1/2 " which allowed for easy mounting of parts, now, with this kit, the hole spacing is 1" meaning that teams might have to drill many holes into the metal to get the spacing they desire.
Teams often voiced that they had problems at times fitting together parts into their design. Often having to file, cut, and improvise in order to put these parts together. Although, some would view this as a good thing for "real world" applications in engineering, as, unlike with the vex system, parts don't always fit together perfectly.
A few teams expressed that the metal was not well suited for fine manipulation of objects. They found the Legos included in the kit were better suited for this, but those had there own trade-offs....
Lego
Positives:
+ They are Legos!
+ Very good for fine manipulations
Negatives:
- Fragile
- Interface with metal is weak
How often do High School students get to work with Legos and robotics. Its a perfect match. Its a little throw back to FLL, but now with metal.
The Legos included in the kit are very good for grasping objects and manipulating them. Teams found that their manipulator ends would be lego, while the structure of the manipulator (like arms) would be made from the metal. This gave them the rigidity of the metal, while having the flexibility of the Legos.
That being said, there are a few problems...
The Legos are weak. Anyone who has worked with Legos will tell you that if you don't build your parts right, they will break. In FLL, reinforcement was vital to machine reliability. That was with one robot on a field, moving a moderate pace. Now, imagine that robots with more power and speed and colliding into one another. The Legos will break. One team told me that they switched to a metal manipulator (losing some ability to grab) just to avoid the manipulator from falling apart. The Legos are great for manipulators, but I seriously wonder how well they will hold up to collisions between the robots.
Another problem with the Legos was the interface between the Legos and the in-kit metal. There are small pieces that connect the metal and Legos together. These parts were quote, "prone to failure." Although not all teams said this, some had problems, some had no problems.
------
This is the conclusion of the first installment. If you have any comments, please leave them below, and I will respond to the ASAP. Also, check out our site (http://eaglevex.syraweb.org).
Patrick here from Team Unlimited posting the much overdue review of the new FTC kit. Team Unlimited has been working for a long time trying to scramble together all of our notes and opinions in order to get this review finished.
This is part one of a multi-part series. I will try to get the next part up ASAP. Please leave comments below about your opinions on the kit, your experiences with the kit, etc.
Thank you!
Regards,
~Patrick, Engineer of Team Unlimited
--------
NOTE FROM TEAM UNLIMITED:
Team Unlimited has not gotten any time to work with the mechanics or programming parts of this kit. The comments in this review are from teams in the demonstration pilot and also from various FTC teams that Team Unlimited talked to.
--------
THE KIT:
STRUCTURAL PARTS
Metal
Positives:
+ Light weight aluminum
+ Strong
+ Many holes pre-drilled into metal stock
Negatives:
- Often had problems with fitting metal together
- Metal seemed to be from various sources and thrown together
- Hole spacing reduced (went from 1/2 " from Vex to 1")
- Often had to use tools just to get parts to fit together
- Not went for fine manipulations
The aluminum was a nice addition. Being light weight and strong is a nice addition to the kit. The teams felt that this was a very nice addition, but some felt nostalgic towards the steel and aluminum parts of the vex system. They felt that the the steel was better suited for the chassis and the aluminum was better suited for superstructures. This kept the center of gravity low. This problem might be reduced knowing that the teams can still use the vex metal, but it has yet to be seen how well the interface between the kits will be.
The holes that were predrilled where in a circular pattern allowing to easy of mounting parts at various angles. Teams did say that they encountered problems with the hole spacing. The Vex system had hole spacing of 1/2 " which allowed for easy mounting of parts, now, with this kit, the hole spacing is 1" meaning that teams might have to drill many holes into the metal to get the spacing they desire.
Teams often voiced that they had problems at times fitting together parts into their design. Often having to file, cut, and improvise in order to put these parts together. Although, some would view this as a good thing for "real world" applications in engineering, as, unlike with the vex system, parts don't always fit together perfectly.
A few teams expressed that the metal was not well suited for fine manipulation of objects. They found the Legos included in the kit were better suited for this, but those had there own trade-offs....
Lego
Positives:
+ They are Legos!
+ Very good for fine manipulations
Negatives:
- Fragile
- Interface with metal is weak
How often do High School students get to work with Legos and robotics. Its a perfect match. Its a little throw back to FLL, but now with metal.
The Legos included in the kit are very good for grasping objects and manipulating them. Teams found that their manipulator ends would be lego, while the structure of the manipulator (like arms) would be made from the metal. This gave them the rigidity of the metal, while having the flexibility of the Legos.
That being said, there are a few problems...
The Legos are weak. Anyone who has worked with Legos will tell you that if you don't build your parts right, they will break. In FLL, reinforcement was vital to machine reliability. That was with one robot on a field, moving a moderate pace. Now, imagine that robots with more power and speed and colliding into one another. The Legos will break. One team told me that they switched to a metal manipulator (losing some ability to grab) just to avoid the manipulator from falling apart. The Legos are great for manipulators, but I seriously wonder how well they will hold up to collisions between the robots.
Another problem with the Legos was the interface between the Legos and the in-kit metal. There are small pieces that connect the metal and Legos together. These parts were quote, "prone to failure." Although not all teams said this, some had problems, some had no problems.
------
This is the conclusion of the first installment. If you have any comments, please leave them below, and I will respond to the ASAP. Also, check out our site (http://eaglevex.syraweb.org).
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Team Unlimited in Atlanta!
Team Unlimited touched down in Atlanta today at about 6:00 pm. It was a lot of fun with all the seating issues ;).
After landing, we had to rush to the Congress Center in order to give our presentation, Founding a Community Based Robotics Program: A Case Study. It was a great success, about 20 people showed up to the presentation. It will be available on our site (http://eaglevex.syraweb.org).
We are looking forward to the competition tomorrow and would like to wish the best of luck to all the teams in competition tomorrow (FLL, FTC, and FRC teams!).
Don't forget to go to the Varsity tomorrow at 7:00 pm. Hopefully we will get a large draw from all the teams! Can't wait to see you all there!
Once again good luck to everyone!
Team Unlimited will be posting information at the end of the day, everyday while in Atlanta. We are going to get information up on the new kit tomorrow as they do a demo of the kit in the pits.
Regards,
~Team Unlimited (FTC #1)
After landing, we had to rush to the Congress Center in order to give our presentation, Founding a Community Based Robotics Program: A Case Study. It was a great success, about 20 people showed up to the presentation. It will be available on our site (http://eaglevex.syraweb.org).
We are looking forward to the competition tomorrow and would like to wish the best of luck to all the teams in competition tomorrow (FLL, FTC, and FRC teams!).
Don't forget to go to the Varsity tomorrow at 7:00 pm. Hopefully we will get a large draw from all the teams! Can't wait to see you all there!
Once again good luck to everyone!
Team Unlimited will be posting information at the end of the day, everyday while in Atlanta. We are going to get information up on the new kit tomorrow as they do a demo of the kit in the pits.
Regards,
~Team Unlimited (FTC #1)
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Your in Atlanta...now what?
This is something that Team Unlimited compiled for use by teams. Its a guide to Atlanta. Through our experiences over the last few years we've seen the good, and the bad of different places to go while in Atlanta.
We thought this would be good for teams who are going there for the first time, and also teams who want to go some place they may not of heard of before.
The link is below; click on "Beyond the Bots - Atlanta 2008":
Another thing for all teams! You have all been invited to a Flash Party (an unofficial party where people all suddenly show up at a place at a specific time) at the Varsity. For those of you who have not been to the Varsity before, it is a classic Atlanta institution that specializes in burgers, hot dogs, etc. Team Unlimited will not be paying for this party, so please bring your own money (about $10 per person). We are trying to get teams together after a day of competition as a way to unwind and relax with other teams.
Invitation:
Spread that word, and I hope that many teams attend this!
We thought this would be good for teams who are going there for the first time, and also teams who want to go some place they may not of heard of before.
The link is below; click on "Beyond the Bots - Atlanta 2008":
Another thing for all teams! You have all been invited to a Flash Party (an unofficial party where people all suddenly show up at a place at a specific time) at the Varsity. For those of you who have not been to the Varsity before, it is a classic Atlanta institution that specializes in burgers, hot dogs, etc. Team Unlimited will not be paying for this party, so please bring your own money (about $10 per person). We are trying to get teams together after a day of competition as a way to unwind and relax with other teams.
Invitation:
Spread that word, and I hope that many teams attend this!
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Final design nearing completion!
After much testing, Team Unlimited has been working on our final design. This new design is very similar to our old robot (vertical intake for ring collection and has a linear extender for variable ring scoring to different scoring differences). We will have the design done on Saturday and will have photos and design schematics up for others.
In other robot related news, Alex is working on an animation of our robot in Maya for Atlanta. He will take the robot and make sure everything is modeled in Maya. He will work on the animation so that it will be ready for Atlanta and will be displayed proudly in our pits. Stop by and check it out!
Best of luck to all the teams as they do final changes to their robots and prepare for the internationals!
Regards,
~Team Unlimited, FTC #1
P.S. Photos will be uploaded as soon as the final design is finished!
In other robot related news, Alex is working on an animation of our robot in Maya for Atlanta. He will take the robot and make sure everything is modeled in Maya. He will work on the animation so that it will be ready for Atlanta and will be displayed proudly in our pits. Stop by and check it out!
Best of luck to all the teams as they do final changes to their robots and prepare for the internationals!
Regards,
~Team Unlimited, FTC #1
P.S. Photos will be uploaded as soon as the final design is finished!
Monday, March 31, 2008
Team Unlimited at NSTA Boston
This past Saturday Team Unlimited was at the NSTA (National Science Teachers Association) Natioanl Convention held in Boston, MA. We were there to help promoted FIRST and all its subsets (FLL, FTC, and FRC).
We meet many teachers who were interested in the FIRST programs. We dealt mainly with the teachers interested in FTC as what was where our experience lies primarily. It was a great convention, we had a great time, and exhibited our robots for demostations.
Pictures will added later as they are processed in photoshop!
Regards,
~Team Unlimited, FTC 1
We meet many teachers who were interested in the FIRST programs. We dealt mainly with the teachers interested in FTC as what was where our experience lies primarily. It was a great convention, we had a great time, and exhibited our robots for demostations.
Pictures will added later as they are processed in photoshop!
Regards,
~Team Unlimited, FTC 1
Thursday, March 27, 2008
A little comedy..
As a fun little project, Team Unlimited filmed a video of us setting up the field. We were a little borred after an 8 hour work session, so we goofed off and did this. It was a lot of fun.
The video was created about a month ago.
The video was created about a month ago.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)