Sensors

[FRC2220]

Is the CMUcam3 allowed in FRC 2008? A magnetometer/digital compass?

[FRC433]

This thread, http://forums.usfirst.org/showthread.php?t=8296, says that prior year CMUcams may not be used in 2008. However, the CMUcam2 is still available on the IFI website (http://www.ifirobotics.com/first-store.shtml). Doesn't that qualify it as a COTS item?

[GDC]

Updated answer:

CMUcam 3 units that are obtained from a valid source (see the definition of "Vendor" in Chapter 8 of The Manual), and that satisfy the materials use, cost accounting, and other Chapter 8 rules, may be used. Please note that, because they were custom items specifically developed for FIRST and no longer available, CMUcam modules retrieved from 2006 FRC kits may NOT be used in the 2008 competition. The CMUcam modules supplied in 2007 FRC kits are still available from the IFI web store, so they are COTS-equivalent parts and may be used.

There are no rules that would explicitly prohibit the use of magnetometers or digital compass units.

[GDC]

Thank you for catching that. We meant to indicate that the 2006 version of the FRC CMUcam could not be used, as it is no longer available. But we over-simplified the answer to address all versions of FRC CMUcams. Thed mistake has been corrected, and the answer has been updated.