I had opportunity to use a robot a little

There is a leaning curve to working with them. I dint have the problems with mine like I did because I now know where and how fast to walk and where to stop to facilitate a quick lock.

"and all you do when you want it to find you, is point some sort of light gun at the robot, and press find, and it STARTS looking for you in the direction that you actually are"

My old Topcon has an IR remote at the rod that does exactly what you describe.

For the most part, it works quite well.

The Trimble VX and S6's we just got are pretty good at finding you. Much better than the older robots. If these machines are still in their infancy, then they should be pretty mind-blowing by the time they hit kindergarten... 🙂

I have A Trimble 5600 with an "active" prism not a passive one. Makes a big diffrence because the prism has a light built into it that the robot tracks makes for a much nicer robot experience, I have used a topcon before with those dog whistle thingies that sit on top of the prism, and personally I cant stand them.

Nothing but good things to say about the S6. We are running 10 of them now, with two dedicated strictly to machine control. Some of the blademen complain sometimes that whenever a concrete truck or some other piece forces it to lose lock that they have to stop for a second to let it find them. I tell them , that beats climbing the mast to get to an rcii =)

I know my 802-A is older but I like it...

Woof 2 U Nate !

Spoken by a man with out experience in using a robot!

Few tricks to learn.

Not sure of make or model so can only say basic

While lost lock is inevitable the trick is to realise when it will occur when there are known obstructions. That way you can manage the pointing of the telescope by "unlocking" and guiding it to a visible point and requesting it to search the target in the new position.

U need to take care of side or background materials. If water behind = nightmare. Close obstructions will reflect a partial signal so it is possible to get a fix on a reflector from car or plate glass. Vegetation behind remote will give signal to TS that there is something reflecting so TS routine starts looking as it feels it skimmed passed a reflector. Therefore delays.

U need to be aware where TS pointing. Lieca has a last point measured routine so can return to last measurement and regain lock. Then near obstruction take another measurement so it becomes the last measurement.. to save a long walk. Then move across obstruction and try to guide telescope to remote.

The remote is as good as search software and experience of the operator.

Better luck next go Nate

RADU

Woof 2 U Nate !

RAdu, possibly you are right, and I assume you are, but is it not asinine to have a robot, that cannot effeciently find a lost prism? I mean, if somebody wants into the robot market, build one that has nearly no learning curve, and here you go....

It was a Topcon 9000 of some flavor.

I have to say, if I were 500' away, in the woods, I think it would be nearly useless, if it got lost.

N

Woof 2 U Nate !

The Topcon 9001 I used a couple years ago had a 'dog whistle' mounted on the top of the prism, and when you lost lock you just reached up and hit the button. It would spin to the rod and re-acquire lock in a matter of seconds.

I have an older Leica robot these days, and much like my wife, not perfect but we're used to each other. As RADU said, there are tricks of the trade for robot usage, just like GPS there are limitations and workarounds.

Woof 2 U Nate !

>.....
> I have to say, if I were 500' away, in the woods, I think it would be nearly useless, if it got lost.
>
>

Nate... as I have learned with my Topcon 815A. You'd set up your traverse differently than to be 500' into the woods. It's just a fact of life. I don't like to get more than about 300' from it and have to use the search function... it's just a HUGE pain in the rear. I'm still getting used to mine, but I get VERY frustrated with the search patterns and the uneven times that it will loose lock. You learn not to be herky-jerky with the rod or else it will get away from you... and a hundred other things. I don't have the "dog-whistle" but wish I did... If I can get some profits showing, that will be the first thing that I will look into.

I have an older Geodimeter with an active prism. It's good at tracking, but field conditions still make loss of lock a fact of life. In those situations I'm partial to the compass arrangement offered by the DC50: after you get set up and locked, aim a compass at the gun and record the reading via the DC50's Calibrate function. If/when you lose lock, just take a compass reading to the gun and use the quick search function. The gun knows where to aim horizontally (within a couple of degrees), so it can use a narrow search horizontally and a larger sweep vertically to find the tracking diode. Works pretty slick.

Woof 2 U Nate !

It coulda been a 9001, and it did have the dog whistle on top.

It just seems to me that SOMEBODY would put sensors around the inst perim, and on the face of the scope, so that lost prism, and re find would take less than 20 seconds. And, typicly, more like 5 seconds.

But, what do I know?

🙂

N

There's some good ideas in use out there...

But first, the best robots are the ones that rarely lose you! I robot that tracks well is way better than a robot that finds you quickly. That's why Geo600/Trimble5600/Focus10 are the best I've used.

Topcon has the "dog whistle", IIRC, there is a sensor on each side/back of the unit, and two sensors on the front. It can roughy zero in one your location, using basically the "active prism" priciples, then it goes into a search pattern to find you.

Trimble has a "GeoLock" where you put a small GPS receiver on your Ranger, and the gun can turn to the location of the rod pretty quickly, then goes into a search pattern. We had the "GeoLock", but never used it because 600/5600's track so well it wasn't worth messing with.

I like to guess the angle with my ranger/TDS set-up, I'm pretty good at it. Usually I know it's going to lose me before I start walking to the next point, so I go to the "Remote menu", and estimate the HA I need to turn for the next set-up. I do this while I'm walking, and I have my search window set-up to +/- 30 degrees, so I don't have to be that close. When I get to the point, hit "search", and if I guessed close enough it will find me in a few seconds ...

I agree, there is a learning curve. I've become quite good at getting the robot back on target. In fact, sometimes I surprise myself. Those things don't happen the first time you use a new piece of equipment.

What you talkin bout, WIllis?

Wow, Nate, you have ONE AFTERNOON with a robot and think you know how they all work? how silly is that. What you describe has been done for probably over a decade, FYI. THe active 360 deg. prism that Trimble uses (used) is really fantastic. Also, you have to know a few other items..

1) make sure you know how to set the search window parameters

2) make sure you know how the robot will react when it loses lock.. my 650 Geod. can handle it a few different ways.

3) you will learn a few tricks along the way, like holding the prism towards your target shot, then unplugging it so the robot will "freeze" pointed into your cut line .. walk around an obstruction, then set up and plug the prism in..instant lock.

4) you will learn a new way to "dance" around your jobsite once you GROK how the robot follows you.. you will instinctively know if you are too close or walking to fast.

5) YOU CAN"T LEARN ALL THIS IN ONE AFTERNOON SESSION and start spouting off like an expert.

We used to have Trimble 5600's (and still have a few). They were OK. The VX (basically an S8) and the S6's we just got are much faster, and vastly superior at maintaining lock. And should you happen to lose it, you just switch to the camera view that shows what the instrument is pointed at, and click on the spot in the image where you want it to look. Quite nice.

Andy J

So what? I have found the weak spot in the robots, and found it on the first day, and that weak spot would cause ME serious problems.

Spouting off like an expert. Heah! I am NO expert. In fact, I wish to AVOID becoming one, that is the basis of the complaint.

Smart people, avoid jobs that would bog them down!

(And, I predict that WHEN the problem mentioned above is solved, that the vendor that solves it, will make alot of buks.)

I work alot of places that lock/lost would be a fact of life. Did you look at the pics of Arkansas?

So, anyway, I want LESS work, not more work, if I get a robot.

Nate

Andy

Those are words of wisdom. I love mine and I don't have the active prism on the Trimble VX. It has a doo-dad that I can put on it to only follow my prism and not get hung up on other things, but it's just a waste of space as I don't have many problems with it.

The video function is sweet so when I do lose lock, I look at the video and see where it it pointing and make it point at me and hook up mucho fast.