#2 sounds pretty good.
make some test shapes out of dense foam ( machine it or carve it )  
( $2 at Walmart ) and coat it with aluminium paint.  I used the green  
foam that does not dissolve when painted.  Put on several coats of  
paints to get the surface smooth.
cc

> On May 13, 2008, at 9:15 AM, PicDude wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I recently got involved with FIRST, and we're working on some final  
> tweaks to
> the robot.  [ For others in FIRST, our team did not get funding in  
> time for
> this year's event, but we're still working on the robot for  
> educational
> purposes and for an unofficial local-area competition in the fall ].
>
> One of the boards we have is an IR receiver board with 4 outputs,  
> and which
> works with regular TV/DVD remote controllers (trainable).  We want  
> to use
> this as a backup control during the hybrid (autonomous and
> operator-controlled) mode, but need a 360-deg field of view for the  
> receiver,
> with a max range of about, say 50 feet (I'm mentally estimating  
> here).  We
> have only one more meeting this coming weekend, so I'm looking for  
> a quick
> way to improve this if possible.  My options...
>
> (1) Relocate the IR receiver module component (TSOP34838) higher  
> off the board
> to keep it clear of other components.  The case for the IR receiver  
> seems to
> be some type of semi-translucent material so it does function with the
> control at the back of the unit.
>
> (2) We can aim it upwards but the reception from the side is very  
> low. Some
> type of circular/conical mirror may be necessary, but getting  
> something
> suitable within 5 days seems questionable at this point.  BTW,  
> other teams
> have reported that stray signals have been an issue with these  
> boards, as the
> overhead lap counters in competition are IR based, so there will  
> need to be
> an overhead shield for this.
>
> (3) From the datasheet, the IR receiver module component has an NPN  
> transistor
> switch at the output with a 30kohm pullup to Vdd (+5V).  Perhaps I can
> piggyback another one of those on the same board and point them in  
> different
> directions.  This has the advantage of being able to mount the 2 IR  
> receiver
> modules at opposing sides of the center column on the robot, so it  
> will clear
> mechanical obstacles on the robot itself.  However, it has the  
> disadvantage
> of picking up additional stray signals, and causing signal  
> confusion, with
> less reliability.
>
> (4) Add another IR board and OR the outputs.  Pretty sure this  
> won't happen in
> 5 days.
>
> I think (1) and (2) seem reasonable at this point, given the 5 days  
> to do
> this.  Any thoughts on this?  Or any other quick ideas?  As a backaup
> solution for an unofficial competition, I am not so interested in  
> making it
> perfect as I am in showing the kids how to go about solving this  
> problem to
> improve the system within the short timeframe.
>
> Cheers,
> -Neil.
>
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