Hi All,
I am the Robot Design Judge that asked this question. I asked this question
only of 2 or 3 teams.
Most of you have already commented on this, and the answers were indeed
spot on. My intention was to check if any team had planned for mission
failures. The failures, and the subsequent recovery attempts, could occur
at different levels.
1. As Bill says, the teams could have designed for a change in run sequence
based on mission success or failure.
2. Or how about a program to recover an item from the mat during a
subsequent run (for an entirely different mission)
I hope I did not create too much of a turnoil, but I think that with the
maturity levels displayed by many teams at the state level, this is an area
that could truly differentiate a team.
Sastry Saraswathula
703.774.9772
On Tue, Dec 6, 2011 at 10:02 AM, Robot Bill <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> I have judged Robot Design a few times. This is the first time I have
> heard of the specific phrase “recovery program”, so I am also curious to
> see what the specific meaning might be. I think Richard and Nari's
> responses below might be spot on.
>
> Mike, did your team have a sequencing program which compiled all of the
> programs into one main program and then executed each set of missions one
> at a time? I saw a few of them during the robot performance rounds on
> Sunday, but I am not sure if your team was one of the ones that did that.
> If your team did, how was the program written? Did it require all of the
> robot sorties from base to be executed in a specific order which could not
> be changed once the main program is run? I would suspect that that might be
> the source of the judge's question. Specifically, if your main program did
> mission A+B then C+D+E then F+G, what do you do if the robot does not
> successfully complete mission D? Are you forced to run missions F+G or can
> you run mission D by itself?
>
> If this is the case, the implementation ("something that runs in parallel
> with another program, or just extra steps in the main programs, or an
> entirely separate program") is entirely up to the team. I have mainly
> seen either a completely separate program which is executed outside of the
> main sequencing program or the main sequencing program written to enable
> the individual mission programs to be executed in different mission orders.
> The trade offs are programming complexity vs. operational flexibility vs.
> NXT memory utilization. This might be an excellent "off season" learning
> area for some of your teams (but take a few months off to catch your breath
> first!).
>
> Best Regards,
> Bill Aucoin
> [log in to unmask]
>
> PS: I was the referee with the turkey ref hat and Camelback on Sunday. I
> think I had as much fun as your teams did. Congratulations to everybody on
> a fantastic Food Factor season. You are all champions regardless of what
> "booty" your team left with on Sunday. Hopefully, we'll see you all next
> year, either in FLL, FTC or FRC.
>
> From: First Lego League in Virginia and DC [mailto:
> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Teel, Richard [USA]
> Sent: Tuesday, December 06, 2011 7:29 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: EXT :Re: [VADCFLL-L] recovery program
>
>
> Michael,
>
> I am not certain exactly what the judge may have been asking but the judge
> may have meant a backup program to recover or complete a mission which did
> not execute as anticipated. In our case, the team noticed that the program
> to bring the truck back to base would sometimes leave the truck just
> outside of base so they created a separate program to attempt to recover
> the truck. This worked well for the team and they were able to use it for
> the trailer as well in case it too was left a short distance from base. If
> things worked well, the program was not needed and the team would not run
> it however it was handy and worked well when needed.
>
> I suspect this is the type of program the judge was referring to but I am
> uncertain. Hopefully someone else will chime in here as well.
>
> Richard Teel
> Coach
> Robotic Roadrunners (6585)
>
>
> From: First Lego League in Virginia and DC [mailto:
> [log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Michael Brown
> Sent: Monday, December 05, 2011 5:31 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [VADCFLL-L] recovery program
>
> So is that something that runs in parallel with another program, or just
> extra steps in the main programs, or an entirely separate program?
>
> And what other terms do teams run into?
> --
> --
> Michael Brown
> Coach Team 5240
> The WAFFLEBOTS!
> "What we learn is more important than what we win."
>
> On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 3:00 PM, Anant Narayanan <
> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
> A recovery program is a robot mission program to fix a known problem with
> a main mission program (e.g. if the bacteria sometimes spill during a main
> mission program, a recovery program is one that might collect the bacteria
> and bring it back to base)
>
> Best,
> Nari
> On Mon, Dec 5, 2011 at 9:29 AM, Michael Brown <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> During robotics judging one of the judges asked the kids if they had a
> recovery program, which the kids did not know what that was and neither do
> I.
>
> Can someone point me to a website / explanation or a book? Anyone have a
> recommendation on an advanced programming book?
>
> Mike
>
>
>
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>
>
>
> --
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> Anant S Narayanan
> McLean Robotics Institute
> McLean VA 22102
> 202-421-3826 (cell)
> [log in to unmask]
> -----------------------------------------------------------
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