FIRST Robotics competition/Design by committee

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Pu-239
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FIRST Robotics competition/Design by committee

Post by Pu-239 »

My HS has a robotics team participating in the USFIRST competition (sponsored by Dean Kamen, (Yes, inventor of the Segway), and I'm one of the three programmers. Anyway, here's our webpage: http://www.broken-llama.com/robotics/ , and an out of date picture (flaps and suction cup are gone):
[img=right]http://www.broken-llama.com/robotics/images/robot.jpg[/img]. [rant on]Apparently our robot was supposed to lift a large ball into a goal, push little balls around effectively with fold out guides, and hang on a rod 9' above. Apparently, we had to strip out all features except hanging due to weight limits (130lbs). Our autonomous modes except the most basic one could not be implemented due to time constraints, and are implemented w/ dead reckoning, w/ no encoders or gyroscope for navigation. :evil: . We currently have a dangerously overpowered robot that can tip over if driven too fast, and can't push balls at full speed w/o riding over them... Also we blew away craploads of time doing nothing waiting for parts to ship in rather than something productive(myself included). We also got a moron who think that C# is better than Linux (the guy w/ no nickname in his profile) and who claims to know C#.

[/rant off]

Obviously I think we won't do well. Then again, I'm always an unhappy pessimist.

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Shinova
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Post by Shinova »

Hmm. Our high school had a robotics team too. Was first formed by the Physics teacher and some students the year I took that physics class.
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Damn, yours looks nice.
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Re: FIRST Robotics competition/Design by committee

Post by Xon »

Pu-239 wrote:[rant on]We also got a moron who think that C# is better than Linux (the guy w/ no nickname in his profile) and who claims to know C#. [/rant off]

Obviously I think we won't do well. Then again, I'm always an unhappy pessimist.
Eh? Linux is an OS, C# is a programming language...

Anyway, C# is good for rad development and more importantly biuld times are next to non-existant compared to an equivelent sized C++ project. This really helps the Code-Compile-Debug cycle.

Also, you can use Mono on linux if you want to.

The biggest things is; Are you writing the drivers or just using them?

If you need to writing drivers to directly control the hardwere, then C# is not the way to go. As for using the drivers, it depends on what language bindings there are for them.
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Re: FIRST Robotics competition/Design by committee

Post by Pu-239 »

ggs wrote: Eh? Linux is an OS, C# is a programming language...
Which is why he is a moron, especially when combined with the claim that he knows C#, and no, Linux is for the webserver... the robot doesn't run an OS. They provide us the skeleton code for the chip, which calls user routines every 26ms, so all we have to do is read/write variables for the various output and input pins.

ah.....the path to happiness is revision of dreams and not fulfillment... -SWPIGWANG
Sufficient Googling is indistinguishable from knowledge -somebody
Anything worth the cost of a missile, which can be located on the battlefield, will be shot at with missiles. If the US military is involved, then things, which are not worth the cost if a missile will also be shot at with missiles. -Sea Skimmer


George Bush makes freedom sound like a giant robot that breaks down a lot. -Darth Raptor
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Re: FIRST Robotics competition/Design by committee

Post by Xon »

Pu-239 wrote:
ggs wrote: Eh? Linux is an OS, C# is a programming language...
Which is why he is a moron, especially when combined with the claim that he knows C#, and no, Linux is for the webserver... the robot doesn't run an OS. They provide us the skeleton code for the chip, which calls user routines every 26ms, so all we have to do is read/write variables for the various output and input pins.
Ugh. Sounds like fun. Probable will need either lowlevel asm or C (Asm with some extra syntax)
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Post by phongn »

My old highschool's FIRST site, though currently content-less.
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Post by Sea Skimmer »

Bah, I did that last year and succeed in spending a week in the hospital for it, this year I didn't bother and I'm very glad, from what I've heard teamwork in our team reached an all-time low and group politics have gotten out of control.

[ulr=http://www27.brinkster.com/havenrobotic ... page31.asp]Site[/url]
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Post by Dahak »

My university has a RoboCup team, though we aren't all that successful :)
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Post by Pu-239 »

Sea Skimmer wrote:Bah, I did that last year and succeed in spending a week in the hospital for it, this year I didn't bother and I'm very glad, from what I've heard teamwork in our team reached an all-time low and group politics have gotten out of control.

[ulr=http://www27.brinkster.com/havenrobotic ... page31.asp]Site[/url]
Gah, looks like your webmaster simply resized full size images w/ html width/height attributes, making them take forever to download...

ah.....the path to happiness is revision of dreams and not fulfillment... -SWPIGWANG
Sufficient Googling is indistinguishable from knowledge -somebody
Anything worth the cost of a missile, which can be located on the battlefield, will be shot at with missiles. If the US military is involved, then things, which are not worth the cost if a missile will also be shot at with missiles. -Sea Skimmer


George Bush makes freedom sound like a giant robot that breaks down a lot. -Darth Raptor
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