Questions

[mr_bandit]

Re: Questions

A 500ms hit should always register and when I test the reference robot I built against the targets the targets always register hits that are exactly 500ms.

Honestly, I should have left the "450ms-1200ms" comment out of the rules as it's more a comment about target implementation and less an important characteristic competitors should worry about.

So - assume a wave is 90 seconds (from the rules). It takes 1.5 seconds per kill (0.5 laser, 1.0 red). Thus, the MAX kills = 90 / 1.5 = 60. (ignore tracking time) Thus, 60 kills / 5 targets = 12 kills/target.

So - if I got this right, the max number of waves (or the max wave if you prefer) is 12. I am wondering what you think the max wave is going to be (not that I expect you to tell us...)

Question: Do we need to prove, via an invoice, that we have the right laser, or will you just eyeball it and can tell if the laser is "regulation"?

Looking at the arena, we setup on a table.

Question: How close to the edge are we allowed?

Question: Can we clamp the base of our pan/tilt to the table? For example, if I have a plywood 1ftx1ft with a 1inch lip on the bottom front edge, can I put the plywood on the table, hooking the lib o the front edge, and use C clamps to secure the plywood?

Note that the reference pan/tilt requires a base to secure the pan servo in.

[jotux]

Re: Questions

>So - assume a wave is 90 seconds (from the rules). It takes 1.5 seconds per kill (0.5 laser, 1.0 red). Thus, the MAX kills = 90 / 1.5 = 60. (ignore tracking time) Thus, 60 kills / 5 targets = 12 kills/target. So - if I got this right, the max number of waves (or the max wave if you prefer) is 12. I am wondering what you think the max wave is going to be (not that I expect you to tell us...)

Realistically it takes ~2 seconds and the max wave will probably top out around 7-10 time-wise. I suspect that many people will struggle with their robots and, at least initially, have trouble getting past the first few waves. If many people do well and reach the maximum wave we have ways of increasing the difficulty of the contest.

>Question: Do we need to prove, via an invoice, that we have the right laser, or will you just eyeball it and can tell if the laser is "regulation"?

We'll just eyeball the laser as it is pretty unique looking.

>How close to the edge are we allowed?

As close as you want.

>Can we clamp the base of our pan/tilt to the table? For example, if I have a plywood 1ftx1ft with a 1inch lip on the bottom front edge, can I put the plywood on the table, hooking the lib o the front edge, and use C clamps to secure the plywood?

I have no problems with clamping to the table if you think it's necessary just make sure the robot is quick to setup and take down so we can stage it quickly.

[mr_bandit]

Re: Questions

>So - assume a wave is 90 seconds (from the rules). It takes 1.5 seconds per kill (0.5 laser, 1.0 red). Thus, the MAX kills = 90 / 1.5 = 60. (ignore tracking time) Thus, 60 kills / 5 targets = 12 kills/target. So - if I got this right, the max number of waves (or the max wave if you prefer) is 12. I am wondering what you think the max wave is going to be (not that I expect you to tell us...)

Realistically it takes ~2 seconds and the max wave will probably top out around 7-10 time-wise. I suspect that many people will struggle with their robots and, at least initially, have trouble getting past the first few waves. If many people do well and reach the maximum wave we have ways of increasing the difficulty of the contest.

>Question: Do we need to prove, via an invoice, that we have the right laser, or will you just eyeball it and can tell if the laser is "regulation"?

We'll just eyeball the laser as it is pretty unique looking.

>How close to the edge are we allowed?

As close as you want.

>Can we clamp the base of our pan/tilt to the table? For example, if I have a plywood 1ftx1ft with a 1inch lip on the bottom front edge, can I put the plywood on the table, hooking the lib o the front edge, and use C clamps to secure the plywood?

I have no problems with clamping to the table if you think it's necessary just make sure the robot is quick to setup and take down so we can stage it quickly.

Thanks.

I know you have a crude drawing of the layout. It would be useful to have a top view and side view with dimensions (in both metric and english [for us old farts who think a meter is used to measure voltage and current :^] )

[jotux]

Re: Questions

I know you have a crude drawing of the layout. It would be useful to have a top view and side view with dimensions (in both metric and english [for us old farts who think a meter is used to measure voltage and current :^] )

Here is the drawing from the rules: http://i.imgur.com/4RzQxc4.png

The arena is about 20x15'. Robots sit on a standard 3x6' table that is about 30" off the ground (Defcon is providing the tables so it can vary slightly from this). The table will sit just inside the arena boundary. The track is flat on the ground and targets sit about 5" high. The layout of the track will not be defined up front and will change from day-to-day.

The spirit of the contest is detect moving targets and engage them so the track arrangement has been left intentionally vague.