Hello everyone,

First of all, the link of Robocup Junior is now: http://rcj.robocup.org/.
The Robocup 2010 will be on Singapore and you can search it on: http://robocup2010.org/

As you probably know, there are 2 divisions according to ages 8-14 years old and 15-19 years old.
They are usually called Primary and Secundary.

There are 3 different Competitions:

1 - Rescue
This is also divided into A and B:
A - Line follower and objects manipulation
B - Maze solver and Body Search (Temperature)

2 - Soccer
This is also divided into A and B:
A - Soccer with Walls
B - No-Walls version
This year will exist a Lightweight version as well.

3 - Dance
On this, it exist a Theater or a Dance.


Any question about this year competition, or about the robots, i will be pleased to answer, as member of organization.

regarding sensing heat...

look at http://www.techno-stuff.com/NIRFL.htm#

Wonder if anyone tries this sensor with RobotC. The online document states, "...If you are using another programming language, you program the sensor as a powered 9 volt legacy sensor. The raw output is around 1020 when no light is detected, and around 370 when strong light is detected..."

Advice?

Elizabeth,

What type of advice are you looking for? That sensor looks pretty straightforward to use. Configure the port as a one of the RCX sensors (play with it a bit to get the right one), read the sensor's raw value and you're set.



- Xander

I am not sure if u will detect the heat with that.

Its good for candles, put probably would not work for heating devices as he ones used on rescue b

Thank you both...

Yes, I am particularly interested to know this device works to detect the heat specification from Rescue B...

- Victims will be electrically heated sources of thermal infrared (TIR) radiation (wavelengths greater than about 3 micro-meters).
- Each victim will have a surface area greater than 25 sq cm.
- Victims must be coated with paint or fabric to ensure a high thermal emissivity.
- The surface temperature of victims must not exceed 45ºC (318 K).

With my very limited understanding in electronmagnetic, or thermal radiation...

Since the sensor techno-stuff detect fire from candle, ie. seeing both UV and IR. , and emitting heat, I guess it can detect > 3microns IR. Then, does it also mix up the any UV from light, such as sun light?! I know they also offer UltraViolet Flame sensor ... but with $129/piece, and minimum 10 for each order!!!! Uhmmm!!! Yike!

ok... got the word from the maker from techno-stuff engineer. This IR detector won't work well in this simulation.
Now, I am looking at : TPA81 THERMAL SENSOR

but then, I need to look into how to create a cable to interface this with the nxt!?

Elizabeth,

Do you have a link for this sensor? I saw one at Active Robots and it seems it has a nice I2C interface This shouldn't be too, too difficult to connect to the NXT.

http://www.active-robots.com/products/s ... /tpa81.pdf

- Xander

yes, Xander, that's the one I was looking at... I found it from http://www.nxt4you.com... more detailed doc: http://www.robot-electronics.co.uk/htm/tpa81tech.htm

With limited electronic background... trying to figure out how to create a cable connection to nxt!?

Advice is greatly appreciated.

Elizabeth,

How comfortable are you with a soldering iron? Alternatively, I would be happy to make an NXT adapter for one of these if you have it shipped to me instead and just reimburse me via PayPayl for shipping costs to send it back to you when I am done. You can contact me via mail (mightor_at_gmail_dot_com), if you'd like. I still have some prototype boards and pull-up resistors here in the closet that I could use for that. It would take no more than an hour or so

- Xander

Hi Xander,

My first soldering experience was when I was 13. I have worked at site to solder circuit board for the whole summer. That was that! Hardly touched one since then.

Your offer is indeed appreciated. I am going to place an order for the sensor... hope to get it soon. I’ll keep you posted though.

Alternatively, if I know what else I need to get, perhaps I can explore this here. I wanted my older students to be able to do this that. Wonder if there may be a video on youtube will be really helpful.

Thank you again.

Elizabeth,

Where did you end up ordering it?

To make an adapter board you will need:

• An NXT cable you can cut up
• 2 x 83K Ohm resistors (pull-ups)
• Some spare thin wire to connect stuff
• Some copper strip board, like this : http://www.bitsbox.co.uk/images/stripboard.jpg
• 0.1" header strip like this: http://www.bitsbox.co.uk/images/connect/headerstrip.jpg

It would be fairly trivial to make an adapter board with these but a bit tricky to explain it you. Here's a pinout of both the NXT cable and the sensor:




The 4.3V on the NXT is really more like 4.8 and should be good enough for the sensor. Connect the matching pins from the sensor with the corresponding NXT wires. Ignore the servo pins on the sensor. Make sure you add the 83KOhm resistors on both SCL and SDA lines to the +4.8V of the NXT, one on each line. Make sure you connect the NXT cable to the copper strip board and add some tension relief on it so the solder connections don't get damaged.
I would recommend you cut the header pins down to 5 length and solder it to the sensor first, plastic strip on the bottom of the sensor. Then solder those pins onto the copper strip board, but leave this until last when all the resistors and wires have been soldered onto the copper strip board.

- Xander

THANK YOU A WHOLE LOT!

I am planning to order from www.nxt4you.com.

If you do end up getting stuck, my offer still stands

- Xander

YES, I probably will need it!!! Thank you again...

Is there a difference between pin 2 and 3? (both are GND)