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Suggestion for whatever CAD model you post for it: perhaps include a body representing the field of view? It only occurred to me now to drop one into my model of the dumb camera. Presumably just a short pyramidal frustum. This would make it easy to build densely around it safely.
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I inspected the rulebook and I can’t find the specific rule banning the regular VEX AI kit. The new sensor looks like it will bring a lot to the table as far as autos but I don’t see the rule banning basic AI kit. It is an official vex product that was released so it should be fine. I noticed on the product page that it doesn’t say that but what rule in specific. Also was confused because it should be VEX U legal I would think? Ultimately the newer VEX AI is cool and I have lots of ideas on the new ways for auto and for driver aid. I am interested on how integral the new April Tags on the field will be. I feel that this opens a door for a lot of cool game ideas.
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@EcstaticPilot He was talking about the VEX AI kit
@Liam_5405 the AI Over Under kit does not list itself as VRC legal, so R6 would ban it. Also, the VAIRC lists the VAIRC Kit components as VEXU “additional electronics”.
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Yeah, but if you look at the kit product you posted its not VEX U legal, that’s why I was confused on this. The rule says that it must be listed in the rules, not about the website is how I interpreted that. There are ban lists in the rules that say what you cannot use and the AI sensor is not listed. That would qualify it per R6. technically I could use the AI kit (almost any judge would still say no) but per the rules I think it is technically legal. Any team that tries this will probably be disqualified but I think that the rules are worded in a way that permits this. Its tough and I give RECF the benefit of the doubt because its newer product (although there is a rule for that) but I think come 24-25 we should try to get more defined rules on crossover.
TL;DR The rules say that V5 products are only banned if they are on the list. I think that needs more work. VEX AI kit is legal?
These are up now.
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I was looking at vexrobotics.com on the new vision sensor, but what is AprilTags, how does it work, and how will we use it in VRC (if we do use it in VRC)?
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AprilTags are QR codes but designed in such a way that they can be seen and decoded easier by low res vision cameras from relatively large distance (so they can be used in automation, like warehouse detection of stuff, robotics etc). To do so they have a much simpler geometry and carry less data (4 to 12 bits) but for robotics that is more than sufficient, you can, as a very rough example assign 0101 to “Object A on the Red Alliance” and 1110 to “Object B on the Blue Alliance” and the vision software inside a “vision sensor” or software like OpenCV on a computer or a PI will decode that for you.
So you can generate them yourself, print them and stick them onto objects/places you want to be seen. They are squares of about 6 inches per side (I think recommended by the creators). Then software tracks it and calculates coordinates just like the old blobs on the old Vision Sensor.
Not sure how we will use that in VRC, game has to allow it in its design for example they would print AprilTags onto game elements. But then VEX better make sure they don’t “ships in eight weeks”.
By the way they are called AprilTags because they were designed at the University of Michigan in their APRIL (acronym with fancy words) Robotics Lab.
Here’s a link to the “official” page:
And here’s a more detailed explanation done by WPI for FIRST:
WPILib.org AprilTags intro robotics use
Cool feature of having a simple square tag where you can detect all 4 corners’ coordinates is that you can not only read the info stored in the tag but also detect orientation in 3d space with some clever math.
And if one picture is worth 1000 words… how much is a video?
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I’ll jump on the “this makes me sad” bus with Charles. If there is a MS level of VIQ, might as well give them a decent vision sensor to use.
April Squares are cool, if the processing for the Squares in the sensor that makes it easy enough for the IQ roboteers to figure it out.
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I noticed that there’s a usb-c port on here instead of the micro usb port that was on the old vision sensor. Sense this got an update any chance that vex will release new models of the controller and brain with usb-c?
(and esd protection on motor ports while they’re at it.)
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That’s too bad it doesn’t work with VEX Pro. Yes, I’m still using discontinued software.
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All new products released in the last few years have been USB-C, IQ generation 2, EXP, GPS sensor. V5 was just a little too early.
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Here’s an example.
This is a screen grab from the USB video stream with the overlay enabled.
The discs and cubes are small, about 1 inch across, these are used with the CTE workcell.
The monochrome target in the back is about 6 inches square, more likely to be used in a VRC game if that ever happens.
V5 dashboard would show this if tags are selected as the object of interest.
or with a slowly updating background image.
apriltag processing is very cpu intensive, it’s a challenge to have it run on a small embedded processor. The AI Vision sensor’s lens also has a fairly wide angle of view, the limit for detecting the 6 inch target with default settings is about 6 feet as beyond that is doesn’t occupy enough pixels in the image.
apriltag processing can also run while color detection and/or AI object detection is enabled. As color detection is far less resource intensive it’s likely that the output of both algorithms would be used together to track objects.
Another USB screen grab with color detection and apriltag enabled.
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You know what would make this reveal video even more exciting? A long tracking shot of a warehouse with shelves full of stock.
I feel like this might be another V5 pneumatics kit situation where you get one to check it out and by the time you are ready to spend the money to get one for each of your teams, they are out of stock for a year.
Also, it wouldn’t hurt to hear that the product has been vigorously tested and QC’d so that we don’t find ourselves buying an $89 plastic brick.
Sorry for the negativity, but I’ve been feeling pretty burned by Vex product releases these past few years.
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Is there any timeline as to when the api and VS Code extension will be updated?
The SDK used by the VEX VSCode extension was updated already.
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That is completely my bad, just missed it in plain sight. Sorry!
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How does the sensor work? As in does it use machine learning or is it just using an API hard coded inside the sensor? Basically what is on the inside?
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How do we get information on AprilTags in VEXCode? I can’t find any knowledge base articles on the AprilTag functionality,
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