Rick,  Thanks - I hope I win too! : ) Actually, I'd be happy if it just works like it is supposed to the whole competition. Unless some luck happens,...
Tracy, Have you ever thought that Blackout just has some sort of electronic stage fright? That would explain some of it's behavior. Just a thought. Rick ... ...
Steve,  Thanks for that info about your robot. I assume you are talking about Green Monster? I appreciate knowing that a very good RM bot has similar...
I just uploaded a .kml file to this group. I wrote a program to convert the waypoint files I use on my Green Monster into kml files for Google Earth. My files...
Steve, Now we know where you live. For detail on kml go to http://code.google.com/apis/kml/documentation/ The header that I am using draws a yellow line and...
Rick, I managed to record the live broadcast. It is pretty choppy in parts and locks up at the final match. If you are interested, I could try to upload it...
Rick, Yes - from what I could tell. Blackout did a few weird things in the matches I saw, but it didn't just stop moving like it has in every other...
I played around with Google Earth a bunch yesterday afternoon. Yes, there's a lot of stuff you can do. I uploaded a file which has a combination of points...
Steve, Every second. It reads in the new GPS NEMA string, converts and scales to integers (actually decimeters), calculates distance and direction to goal, and...
Tracy, No more stage fright? That is a major accomplishment, particularly when the robot is so far away! I compare this to sending a landing craft to the moon...
Steve, That's great. You are really getting into this. The last Chicago event, I preprogrammed the paths that I intended to follow using Google Earth. The...
Steve, I see what you are doing. I posted two more files. The KML for the waypoints at Science Central and the Excel spread sheet that converts those...
For what it's worth, you could count on two spectators (possibly future participants) from Bourbon. -Tracy ________________________________ From: Steve...
Not sure if Lou has his ears on, but three is a good start, in my opinion. We'll usually reroute a competition for NEIRG if we don't have enough competitors,...
Tonight I ran and logged the path that I had set up in the park to the South of Science Central. The file is saved in the file section. Run 1 and Run 2 were...
Rick, Would you have an educated guess how much current a stock (27 turn I think) Tamiya (Johnson?) 540 motor would pull for a <5 lbs robot? Somewhere in the...
Tracy, I'd figure on 5 to 10 amps in normal operation, 20 amps max normal operation and perhaps 40 amps stall. I think that your rover is going to be too fast....
Rick, My chassis is an old Tamiya 1/12 scale Humvee that is realistic looking. The realism hurts as a robot chassis since the scale tires are sometimes too...
Rick, Yes I received Blackout today - still in one piece. Congratulations on the win! Exspurt just looks more impressive every time I see it. Thank you so...
Tracy, I was thinking that it was too bad that Blackout could not do that 180 degree turn at the start of a match that has been successful against ExSpurt in...
Rick,  Since my main emphasis this time was dependability, I implemented a gradual change of speed in all cases to protect the motors & motor controller. ...
Tracy, You can also thank Dan Derrick for mailing his sumo in to UNI the first year. Dan's from Pittsboro, IN and has attended a few NEIRGs. If it wasn't for...
Rick and Steve, Congratulations, it sounds like you both did well at ChiBots' RoboMagellan Saturday. I wish I could have been there to see it but I wanted to...