Thinking to get some foam board to make a better track than the paper one at home. I know it's not as durable but it is cheaper. Any suggestions for 'printing' the line on it? Electrical tape? Transfer paper?
The curves are going to be the hardest. If I was going to build one, I'd use electrical tape. My second thoughts would be to pencil it in and then fill with a nice big permanent marker and a steady hand, and third would be to create a template and spray paint.
At the end of the day though. Good software shouldn't care about an ugly line. (Or lighting...or all the other variables out there!)
John do you have templates for the center line track (full size)? I tried printing the paper template above to use the lines on my hardboard track but the radius of curvature of the line on the paper one is < 2 feet.
Nevermind-- will use google sketchup to possibly print my own.
Hi Daniel, we are moving the competition to the Edge Lane track, much simpler to handle than the center line track as there is no printing needed with exception of the start/finish line. Just have a 2 ft wide track with 1 inch black line on both sides. Does this make it easier for you?
Thanks-- My code and car are currently set up for center line track (I did internal only FSL cup last year). So I want to do that first so I can clean up my code before open sourcing it. Think maybe will need 2 cameras to track lines on both sides!
The current camera covers without a problem the new track. You do not need to always see both lines to make the race, the goal is not to stay in the middle of the track but to win the race (cut curves, optimize racing path...). Good luck
Hi, track layout is not provided in advance for Freescale Cup events. The car has to adapt to the track as set for the competition. The inclines and bump elements are described in the official track material in the community Freescale Cup Race Track Details
Finally completed a center-line based track at home, mainly to use to complete some of the coding I didn't do last November during our internal FSL cup competition, like the 'stop'. The main reason for finishing a center-line track (as opposed to an edge-line track that we are moving towards this year) is that I plan to shortly open source a lot of my code on mbed.org. Also, I'm helping out with the Breakthrough Austin 'camp' this summer and still not sure yet what type track is being used-- so wanted to clean up code and release before moving on to thinking about how to code up the edge line track.
The track is made of hardboard that I had leftover in my attic. Unfortunately, hardboard isn't the flattest material so I had to make it flat but nailing it down to 1"x2" board (that was checked to be true at the store).
A jigsaw was used to cut the curved pieces (circles measured using simple string and pencil).
Hardboard was primed and painted white (mostly).
Black lines were printed piecemeal from a Sketchup model of the track. I had a lot of issues with the Sketchup "tiling" mode so couldn't print out an entire curve-- had to print a single page arc. Did the same for the slalom. Lines were glued down with a simple glue stick to permit easy removal later when I want to convert the track to an edge line one.
Here is the finished product-- probably cost me like $30, mainly in primer, paint and the 1"x2"s (as I had the hardboard already).
Hi there.We have a doubt here in Brazil. Will the center line be kept ? In other words, will we have all lines (center and edge) or only the edge ones ? Thanks !
I have some questions. I am with my friend in high school category (Freescale CUP 2016. I have read in this document https://community.freescale.com/docs/DOC-105423 something about using sensors. Is possible to have pair of IR sensors, but no line camera?
In this cup 2016 for high school category is race track with black line on each edge of the track or with center line?
I assume you are referring to the NXP Cup for EMEA on High Schools. The race will be on the center line track and you can use IR sensors rather than the camera if you wish. We have found, however, that the camera brings the best results. Please make sure you document your changes and work in a technical document that will have to be sent before the race for validation of the compliance of your vehicle wth the rules.
