By now you've probably heard about a new WiFi based communication system that will be introduced in the 2010/2011 FTC season. That project started over a year ago with a conversation at the FTC North Carolina Regional Championship with John Toebes.
John is an FTC coach and has also been involved with FLL and FRC. He embodies many of the great attributes of our community. He's smart, driven, and feels strongly about STEM and the next generation. In his spare time he's also the Director, Patents, for CISCO.
From that initial conversation in North Carolina John started experimenting with different communication architectures that would minimize or eliminate the issues we'd experienced with Bluetooth. What he developed, with the help of a small team, is a WiFi module that plugs into the USB port of the NXT brick effectively bypassing the Bluetooth system.
The benefits of this for FTC teams are in ease of connectivity. This includes both the initial connection and the management of data between computer and robot. There are some features that are also possible using this device including remote monitoring of robot condition. The main benefit however is a stronger/easier communication system.
At this point we've produced several breadboard versions and hardened the design with a beta production run of about 40 units. Some of you saw a few of these demonstrated in Atlanta. By mid-June production units will be made available to teams who register with FTC. All teams registering with FTC in the 2010/2011 season will receive a Samantha WiFi module at no charge - thanks to the generous donation of John and his team and funding from the Kauffman Foundation.
I think this project reflects the best from our FIRST community. Smart people coming together to solve a tough problem - and providing that solution to our students and mentors at no cost. There are very few communities that could come together to make something like this happen and we're all fortunate to be part of this one.
Ken
PS - The Samantha code name was chosen due to the fact that one of the developers has a daughter named Samantha.
10 comments:
As Samantha beta testers in FL last season, we can only say, "Samantha Rocks!"
-Team Duct Tape
My FTC team demo-ed samantha in Atlanta, it was superb!
This is GREAT news, but this is the first i've heard of this. I still can't wait to get my team's hands on this new interface.
I think it is safe to say that Bluetooth will not be missed.
my team beta tested at PACE university for the hudson valley ny state championship and wifi did not go well. they used it in the official matches. we ran match one four or five times. by the end of the match only one robot would still be running. all the others had been dropped and lost connectivity. We burned one of our motors when we lost our connection and the robot continued into a wall and we werent the only team. it severely messed us up. we still won inspire. but we lost alot of matches cause of our scramble to replace our motor.
Has anyone received their new Samantha device yet?
Is there anything else new that is expected for the 2010/11 season?
Leanne
I was a little hesitant when I saw that it was using 802.11b. However, anything could beat what I, as a student programmer, had to deal with last year. Let's see how this works out!
It did not appear to be functioning on 02DEC10 in Clarkson....It brought the competition to a halt; and then a close.
Something about flooding the WiFi network on a college campus...
Is it possibile to buy another sammantha module if ours is broken?The usb port is lose and it dosnt keep connection.
where do I get this? I live in Canada and it's making the purchase of every single component for the FTC kit nigh impossible, I've had to get all the parts from canadian specific websites and use the NXT we already have at the school.
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