Draft rules for the 2015 contest are up

[jotux]

https://github.com/Defconbots/2015_Competition_Rules

Post questions or questions on github or here.

[RoboHak]

I received my laser from civillaser, and it is really bright. I guess I should have expected that with a 50mw green laser. It looks like with the new rules the laser will be left on and just modulated for shots. Has there been any discussion on laser safety for the competition? I don't know a lot about laser safety, but I do know that anything over 5mw can be dangerous. I also know that many green lasers put out strong IR as well, unless they have a built in filter for that. I would think that physical barriers to block direct laser exposure would be a good idea, along with eliminating any possible reflections. I don't know if they would be needed, but laser safety glasses might be a good idea also.

There was a good discussion about laser safety on the forum last year. It may be a good idea to reach out to some of those people to discuss safety for the competition. The forum thread can be found here

[ertgyhjnm]

I have a quick clarification question based on this years rules. "The laser should remain enabled at all times during the wave". If the laser passes over a target but does not encode any information as it is passing over the target will there be any effect. Basically, I'm just trying to figure out if I have to do object avoidance. Thanks!

[jotux]

I received my laser from civillaser, and it is really bright. I guess I should have expected that with a 50mw green laser. It looks like with the new rules the laser will be left on and just modulated for shots. Has there been any discussion on laser safety for the competition? I don't know a lot about laser safety, but I do know that anything over 5mw can be dangerous. I also know that many green lasers put out strong IR as well, unless they have a built in filter for that. I would think that physical barriers to block direct laser exposure would be a good idea, along with eliminating any possible reflections. I don't know if they would be needed, but laser safety glasses might be a good idea also.

There was a good discussion about laser safety on the forum last year. It may be a good idea to reach out to some of those people to discuss safety for the competition. The forum thread can be found here

Sorry for the slow response. I thought I was "subscribed" to all the threads here but never recieved emails about your reply.

So the green 50mW and even the same laser in the 5mW are Class 3B. A Class 3B laser is hazardous if the eye is exposed directly, but diffuse reflections such as those from paper or other matte surfaces are not considered harmful. The defconbots contest area will be similar to last year in that all surfaces will be covered in flat-black cloth and the only semi-reflective surface will be the targets themselves which will be flat-white. Different from last year I'm going to insist the contest faces a wall so there is no chance for people to walk directly in front of the robots.

[jotux]

I have a quick clarification question based on this years rules. "The laser should remain enabled at all times during the wave". If the laser passes over a target but does not encode any information as it is passing over the target will there be any effect. Basically, I'm just trying to figure out if I have to do object avoidance. Thanks!

So technically the laser does not need to remain ON the entire time. It's just that if your laser is not on a little while before the packet goes out there is a chance it will not be read correctly. To make things simpler it's better to just leave the laser on and then pump data out to it when you're attempting a shot.

The problem that may arrise with this always-on approach is that even with the black cloth background your camera may pick up the bright green laser pointer as it falls on the background or targets.

I have revised the language of the rules to the following: "The laser should be ON at least 500 ms before a serial message is broadcast (it is recommended you keep the laser enabled at all times during the wave)"