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The pit and the arena at the Pittsburgh FIRST robotics competition during the alliance selection phase. Almost all the teams are in the stands and watching the selection process. The alliance selection is a crucial part of the competition - the top 8 seeded teams from the qualifying matches choose partners with which they form an alliance - giving the chosen teams a chance to be on the winning alliance. |
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A view of the Archimedes field at the FIRST Championship. |
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FRC 2009 robotics Championship in Atlanta.
This image was shot as the Einstein final was still setting up. If you can't find yourself because you are blurred or obstructed, try these images: http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=21598 Another by Dave Lavery http://share.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=21597&window_height=589&window_width=1320 Click the snapshots below the image for a rapid zoom to the snapshot subject. Find interesting stuff in the image and create/add your own snapshots to the gallery if you sign up for an account with Gigapan.org. It takes only a minute. post comments here if you don't want to post on Gigapan.org. http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76940 This is the first of 3 panos at this location. Others to be posted later. I should have programmed the Gigapan to wait 4 sec between shots instead of 3. This would perhaps have allowed the autofocus to settle more fully in some shots where it appears to be blurry. Yes Gigapan recommends autofocus to be turned off for panos but this image has a great range of near/far distances and the fixed focus scheme would have compromised sharpness at one or both of the limits. See my picture from the bridge for evidence of near distance blurring as focus was set on the Fry's store in the far distance. . When I have more time, I will preprocess some images that were blurred and "borrow" some sharpness from the overlap area of adjacent raw images that were sharp. I have 2 more similar images from the balcony later in the presentation when everyone was seated. These are from a better location and I will post these in the next week or so. They have some issues from a couple of missed images where the camera did not make the image for some unknown reason. To fix this, I can borrow from adjacent image overlap and/or use images form the other series at the same location. See other shots by "Total Chaos" (Austin S.) who borrowed our Gigapan while in Atlanta. Frank N. Team 39 |
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Third in a sequence of three shots from the second level at the Georgia Dome.
This is the second FRC 2009 FINALS shot to be posted. For discussion, please post comments/questions under this image or on Chief Delphi here: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76940 FYI, the first pano is here http://www.gigapan.org/viewGigapan.php?id=21481&window_height=956&window_width=1538 This pano was done once the Einstein Matches were under way and everyone is pretty much seated. You will notice a few frames were missed by the camera and have been filled with gray. Possible cause: I had to use a spacer between camera and the pan/tilt platform. The original spacer that supported the full length of the camera got lost on the way to ATL. A makeshift spacer of 1 inch diameter was improvised. This small support combined with flex in the pan/tilt structure likely allowed for the camera to creep in rotation w.r.t. the shutter release servo/nub as the many frames were shot. This could affect the registration between the shutter button and the nub that presses on it to trigger it. I could see some flex in the camera support platform as the servo actuated the shots. It is likely that the nub that is intended to press the shutter button may have hung on a lip that is around the shutter button in a few shots. There are also some frames that show blurring/smear due to vertical motion. Note that to fit the Panasonic super zoom class camera, I had to flip the camera platform over and mount the servo (to release shutter) on the other side of the platform. This places the cameara and platform C of G a bit higher than the axis of tilt rotation. When near horizontal, as the camera goes over the point of balance, the backlash in the tilt mechanism may have allowed for the sudden tilt l movement to take up the backlash and hence blurring/smear in pics on he horizon (see lower section of balcony) . This could easily have taken place as the shutter released and flexed the camera support. Keep in mind that this beta Gigapan was intended for a point and shoot camera and I have mounted a slightly larger than intended camera on it and compromised due to using the wrong spacer. I have another very similar shot and my try to combine the best of both images to repair the deficiencies of each. Frank N Team 39 |
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Representatives and Robots from the Robotics Institute at the opening of the Gates Hillman Center on September 21, 2009 |
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The audience during the Saturday opening ceremonies at Pittsburgh's FIRST robotics competition. |
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Home to the School of Computer Science and the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. |
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Home of the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute as seen from the courtyard outside of the new Gates Hillman Complex. |
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A view of the robot pits for the FIRST Robotics championship! |
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I took this gigapan while I was on the field presenting the gigapan to the Pittsburgh FIRST regional. It's a little small and doesn't get the full size of the audience, cause I only had time to take about a 30 picture Gigapan. If you were there and don't see yourself, you can probably find yourself in one of the many other gigapans of the competition (search pittfrc09 to see all of them). |