Driver Vision Camera(s)

[kevlam2706]

We need to determine how many cameras we need on the robot providing a video feed to the driver station laptop (not part of the vision pipeline).

How many cameras do we need?
What do we need to see?
What kind of camera do we want to use?
How will they connect? (USB to the RoboRio)?
What code do we need to enable the camera feed?

Deliverables:
Answers to all the questions above.
Develop the code needed to show the video feed on the driver station.

[cooking-hambrops]

Initial thoughts from today's meeting:

• 1 vision camera for shooting/alignment
• 1 at the intake to drive and collect the fuel
• 1 inside the hopper to view how much fuel is being stored

There was also talk about using vision for a potential climb, which will depend on the type of climb built (if we do decide to build one)

Once decided, the detailed functional spec needs to be updated with the new information.

[kevlam2706]

PhotonVision supports multiple cameras on the same hardware, though there will be a corresponding drop in performance.

https://docs.photonvision.org/en/latest/docs/description.html

So I propose we test the limits of the Pi 5 to see if we can connect two cameras to it:

• one camera, the previously-discussed OV9281 USB camera for AprilTag detection
• another camera, a USB webcam, running in "Driver Mode"

https://docs.photonvision.org/en/latest/docs/driver-mode/index.html

Let's see how the performance goes on a Pi 5.

We can look into getting something with a wide-angle or fisheye lens to increase the driver POV.

[ClaymoreTheRabbit]

Furthest distance before AprilTag flickers for both photon vision camera and driver camera results:
April tag Camera: 10ft at 320x240 at 122 FPS (MJPEG) 12ms latency
Driver Camera: 10ft at 320x240 at 120 FPS 9-13 ms latency

Recommendation April tag camera settings:
April tag Camera: 16ft at 640x480 at 57 FPS (MJPEG) 18 ms latency
Driver Camera: 16ft at 640x480 at 105 FPS (MJPEG) 17 ms latency

We will never need to see more than 16 ft of the field with a camera, based on the field and the furthest distance required to see on field.

[kevlam2706]

What model of camera did we use for testing as the vision camera?

Ideally we would like something with a wide FOV, and that can transmit in color.