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<p>Firstly we should try to use tagging to make it easy for people to filter for or filter out things they are or are not interested in.</p>
<p>Secondly, we need to be proactive in editing, commenting, flagging and voting to close inappropriate questions.</p>
<p><em>Why is X (my platform of choice) better than all of the other platforms?</em> is simple <strong>not constructive</strong> and all questions of this type should be <strong>closed</strong> as soon as possible, reminding people that <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/faq#dontask">Chatty, open-ended questions diminish the usefulness of our site and push other questions off the front page.</a> </p>
<p>Meanwhile <em>Does component X work with platform Y?</em> is much <strong>less constructive</strong> than <em>When I try to use component X work with platform Y I have problem Z</em> and so the latter should be preferred. In this case we should encourage people to <strong>edit questions</strong> to make them <strong>more constructive</strong>.</p>
<p>This is the way we build a strong community of experts willing and able to share their experience and knowledge and this is the way we encourage a strong, vibrant community of people who ask interesting and relevant questions.</p>
| 1 | 2012-10-23T19:38:03.497 | <p>Due to the nature of robotics, there are multiple relevant robotics platforms in existence (MOOS, ROS, YARP, etc). When we permute these platforms with other available libraries (computer vision, graph optimization, point clouds, etc), the question-space becomes quite large, with lots of available questions, like:</p>
<ul>
<li>Does component <strong>X</strong> work with platform <strong>Y</strong>?</li>
<li>Why is <strong>X</strong> (my platform of choice) better than all of the other platforms?</li>
</ul>
<p>What should the community policy be on moderating questions of this nature?</p>
| What do we do about platform-specific questions? | |discussion|on-topic| |
<p>I would encourage highly technical answers, but with the proviso that you try to tailor your answers to the questioner. A beginner will need a slow introduction, before being exposed to a load of technical jargon, for example.</p>
| 3 | 2012-10-23T20:01:37.043 | <p>I just answered the question, <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/2/how-can-i-modify-a-low-cost-servo-to-run-freely">How can I modify a low cost hobby servo to run 'freely'?</a>. In my answer, I talk about inductive loads and back EMF.</p>
<p>Is this kind of content regarding robotics-controlling hardware on topic for the site? </p>
<p>The bigger question: <strong>What level of technical detail is appropriate for this site?</strong></p>
| What level of technical detail is appropriate and on-topic for this site? | |discussion| |
<p>When dealing with site overlap, there <em>never</em> is a clear line. There usually are questions which are suitable for both sites, and there's nothing wrong with it. </p>
<p>I've seen three types of migrate-able questions:</p>
<ul>
<li>Obvious migrates-- Off topic for us, on topic for them</li>
<li>On-topic for both of us, but much more relevant for the other site's audience. These usually get migrated as well.</li>
<li>On-topic for both of us, slightly better on the other site. Generally these are of the wait-and-watch type--if they don't get answered on your site in a few days, then migrate, but don't immediately migrate.</li>
</ul>
<p>So <em>it's completely fine not to have a "line in the sand"</em>, IMO. as long as we have a well-defined FAQ, any question <em>asked on robotics.SE</em> which falls within that FAQ can be kept, even if it's on-topic elsewhere (though of course it can be migrated off if it can get a much better answer elsewhere).</p>
<p>I suggest we allow questions that deal with electronic components in a robotics-y situation (i.e., being used in a robot--the application of the chip ought to be specified), and disallow generic electronics questions. Seems like we already do that, I think...</p>
| 4 | 2012-10-23T20:09:20.290 | <p>Is there a line in the sand where questions appropriate for this Robotics site end and questions more appropriate for the Electrical Engineering site? Here are a few example topics that I have been tackling at my day job (robotics engineer at a robotics company):</p>
<ul>
<li>USB HID Bootloader for dsPIC33E series microcontroller</li>
<li>Differentiating plastic bottles in a digital image, identifying each bottle and the type of plastic (HDPE pure, HDPE colored, PET)</li>
<li>UDP Packet transmission over WIFI using microchip WIFI module</li>
</ul>
<p>As I write these out, they mostly sound like they have nothing to do with Robotics, despite all of them being used inside robots. Aside from the classic Robotic problems (motion control, positioning algorithms, machine vision), I am having a hard time deciding what I should post here vs Electrical Engineering.</p>
| Where does Robotics end and Electrical Engineering begin? | |discussion| |
<p>I like Mark's approach. If it clearly relevant to robotics <em>as well as other domains</em>, keep it here, even if it could be within stack overflow's or electrical engineering's (or other) sphere. But if it's a very general programming or EE question, move it. </p>
| 5 | 2012-10-23T20:11:06.667 | <p>Since robotics touches many subjects (electrical, mechanical, and software), and a variety of sub-fields (computer vision, machine learning, programming, Matlab, embedded, etc), it seems that we need to develop a system for determining when a question is good for our community, and when it would be better suited for another community.</p>
<p>What does the robotics SE offer that other sites cannot offer?</p>
<p>What should other sites cover so that the work is not duplicated here?</p>
| How do we address questions about related subject areas? | |discussion|on-topic|community| |
<p>This answer is partly in response to Mark's suggestion of a <code>getting-started</code> tag, but also as a direct response to the question.</p>
<p>Other posters have already mentioned the FAQ, the use of tags, and eventually the Community Wiki. These are (IMHO) the correct approaches.</p>
<p>I accept fully that we need to have a simple approach to guide Newcomers to the site - but I question whether Robotics.StackExchange has to be the home to Robotics 101. As such I'd caution against a <code>getting-started</code> tag for the simple reason that really depends on where one is starting from... and anything beyond the absolute trivial could not be considered <code>getting-started</code>.</p>
<p>But where should we start? Robotics is a broad system, covering the integration and application of software, electronics, mechanics and more - and any <code>getting-started</code> type questions on each of the individual disciplines has a better home within the StackExchange family.</p>
<p>It is only when we start bringing those disciplines together, that Robotics is their proper home. At which point, they are no longer truly <code>getting-started</code>.</p>
<p>The StackExchange philosophy is a Q&A mechanism, and it expects questioners to do their research before asking... in other words, someone comes along with their problem, and the community offers solutions and answers. But do your own homework. SE (and we, its community) is here to encourage, but not to spoon-feed.</p>
<p>So, a "No" to a <code>getting-started</code> tag, but a big resounding "Yes" to enhancing the FAQs and to appropriate topic-based tags (maybe even with some semi-meta tags such as <code>software</code>, <code>electronics</code>, <code>mechanical</code> etc)</p>
| 6 | 2012-10-23T20:12:02.813 | <p>Robotics is a really cool field. I think that anyone would agree to this--from engineers to sci-fi buffs alike. There will probably be a lot of fresh eager minds here who want to get started with robotics (and I am one of them), and we will probably get a lot of "Where do I get started with robotics" questions. Some of these questions may be more specific, but a lot of them will probably end up being identical, or can be best answered by giving a comprehensive resource list.</p>
<p>Essentially, what I'm proposing is a discussion about exactly how (or if) we should handle such questions. Should we have a meta post with a list of resources like <a href="https://japanese.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/756/resources-for-learning-japanese">the Japanese SE has</a>, or should we have a single definitive "How do I get started?" question and close all later ones as duplicates?</p>
<p>Also, what would be an acceptable way for a greenhorn robotics engineer to ask where to get started?</p>
| How to handle "getting started" questions | |discussion|community| |
<p>In a word, yes!</p>
<p>Robotics takes many forms - the commonalities are in the ways we solve exciting problems, such as components and techniques, and in the fact that we're solving a certain class of problems. Autonomous <em>anything</em> is inherently in the problem-space of robotics. Autonomous rockets are an exciting class of robots that one should absolutely be able to find advice here for, as much as one can find advice for air, land, water surface, underwater, nano, and a variety of other kinds of robots.</p>
| 17 | 2012-10-23T21:41:43.910 | <p>Rocketry is a whole new ball game, but arguably such devices can have robotic elements. Providing they do, would questions asked about them be off topic or beyond the scope of this site?</p>
| Are questions about autonomous rockets on topic? | |discussion| |
<p>Mahjax has been enabled on this site.</p>
| 25 | 2012-10-23T23:19:18.933 | <p>A lot of us will probably be writing a lot of mathematical content, from signal processing equations to dynamic modeling. I think the site could benefit greatly from the ability to use <a href="https://math.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/5020/mathjax-basic-tutorial-and-quick-reference">Math Jax</a>, as the math and signal processing sites do.</p>
| request for Tex math markup on the site | |discussion|feature-request|status-completed| |
<p>I think Mark captured it with "when the problem domain of the questions is specifically robotic in nature." The question can be purely software, or hardware, or a mix. But the problem domain should be robotics. A question related to the arduino serial library likely belongs elsewhere, but one dealing with a sensor library problem where the sensor is often used in robotics should find a home here.</p>
| 28 | 2012-10-23T23:47:53.697 | <p>When I was programming an Arduino last year I ran into a painful programming halt when working with a color sensor. The color sensor was hooked up correctly (3 pins is not so hard...), but for days I could not figure out what was wrong with my code.</p>
<p>Would questions that are nearly completely about programming belong here? Normally you might want to post it on stack overflow but if it's using Arduino syntax, and robotics related external libraries, does it belong here?</p>
<p>The problem I had above turned out to be the external library using serial and screwing up the serial data stream that my code was outputting. A normal programmer wouldn't have been able to figure that out, but one who programmed robotics probably would be able to.</p>
<p>This specific example shows how blurry the lines can be between a programming SE and this one, where do we draw that blurry line?</p>
| Do solely software questions belong here? | |discussion|on-topic| |
<p>From the <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/faq#reputation">Meta FAQ</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<h2>What is reputation?</h2>
<p>You must have at least 5 reputation on the main website to participate on Robotics Meta - Stack Exchange.</p>
<p>Reputation here is entirely derived from the main website; your reputation is the same here as it is there, synchronized hourly. Votes here do not affect your reputation in any way. However, you can earn unique badges here on the meta site.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So only when you start getting votes on the main site will you reputation increase.</p>
| 33 | 2012-10-24T01:02:49.000 | <p>So far I've posted another question and an answer, someone accepted me answer and I've had up-votes. How come my rep isn't updating here?</p>
| Why isn't my rep updating? | |support|reputation| |
<p>Since ROS has no affiliation with the SX network of sites, you're likely get a different user base (with obviously some overlap) so I'd feel free to cross-post <em>once you don't get an answer within a reasonable time frame</em>. </p>
<p>I also don't see any problem with asking detailed ROS questions here, even if a specific Q&A site exists for that topic elsewhere on the internet. SE sites are supposed to be expert sites, and stackoverflow, to take but one example, covers a far wider array of topics than robotics.SE does while still eliciting highly detailed questions and answers (just look for any answer involving disassembly of a program to resolve compiler intricacies). If people tend to get better answers on ros.org, they'll migrate to there naturally and vice versa.</p>
| 35 | 2012-10-24T05:50:32.467 | <p>Should I use this site to discuss questions that are really specific to ROS or should I keep using answers.ros.org? This same question can be asked for any other libraries / framework I'm using: should I use this site or should I use the one specifically targeted at this community?</p>
<p>Cheers,</p>
| Should I ask specific ROS questions here instead of answers.ros.org? (same applies for other libraries) | |discussion|on-topic| |
<p>"Ultrasonic" seems like an odd tag to have -- like having separate tags for "LED" and "Red LED". It's still sonar; the only reason it's ultrasonic is because nobody wants to listen to the sound a rangefinder makes.</p>
<p>In the AUV industry, sonar is a broad term for a lot of sophisticated (but very separate) technologies. The simplest active sonar devices measure range only, but others measure the speed of currents / speed over ground (DVLs) or provide imaging capabilities (sidescan, DIDSON). There is also a large use of passive sonar, which can't really be called ultrasonic because it doesn't produce sound.</p>
<p><strong>Update 11/29/12:</strong> I think the best thing to do might be to break these out by the function of the sensor, in a "how-what" format. For example:</p>
<ul>
<li>acoustic rangefinder (could also say "sonic")</li>
<li>laser rangefinder</li>
<li>acoustic imaging</li>
<li>laser imaging (lidar)</li>
<li>doppler velocimeter</li>
</ul>
| 53 | 2012-10-26T09:24:34.060 | <p>There's <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/q/53/131">one question</a> so far tagged <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/ultrasonic">ultrasonic</a>. I am far more used to those sensors being referred to as sonars. I'm wondering if my perception is the most common or if people do use ultrasonic/ultrasound more often, and whether we should replace the tag or establish them as synonyms.</p>
| Tag: ultrasound vs sonar | |discussion|tags|tag-synonyms| |
<p>It's allowed technically, it may even be helpful later (see below), but <strong>I wouldn't recommend it</strong> for an early site.</p>
<p>"Seed questions" become harmful when folks come to believe that the author doesn't really care about the answer; or worse, the author doesn't even need any help at all! I wrote a blog post about this cited below, but worth a full read:</p>
<p><em>From <a href="http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/07/area-51-asking-the-first-questions/"><strong>Your New Site: Asking the First Questions …</strong></a></em></p>
<blockquote>
<h3>Seeding the Site</h3>
<p>I was a bit put off by the context implied by “seeding the site.” The word seeding suggests to me that we’re coming up with questions just for the sake of asking questions. My concern is, if people feel that the author doesn’t really care about the answer, the whole exercise would likely be perceived as a waste of time. …</p>
<p>The downside is that those hypothetical questions tend to be somewhat pedestrian for an expert Q&A site. When put on the spot to post content, we’re likely come up with uninspired questions that anyone would ask. And they’ve all been asked 100 times before on every other site on that subject.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>One of the motivations driving this site the belief that you are helping others. Folks love to help others… but folks do not want to be given homework assignments or busy work.</p>
<p>If you have particularly interesting information to share, it's okay to <a href="http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/07/its-ok-to-ask-and-answer-your-own-questions/">share your knowledge, Q&A-style</a>. If you have a particularly <em>intriguing</em> question asked out of <em><strong>genuine</strong></em> curiosity; that's okay, too. But I would stop short of flipping open that book of oft-asked questions to start seeding the site here.</p>
<p>So ask about problems you actually face. Encourage others to do the same. When you encounter obviously "seeded" questions, always moderate for quality. Questions with little effort or research should be closed with helpful guidance. But try not to let it devolve into endless interrogations of the author. They're likely just trying to help the site in good faith. But we have to continue to attract the experts we need… and the best way to do that is to keep the quality on that front page high.</p>
| 55 | 2012-10-26T09:53:46.693 | <p>One objective of the beta is to outline the scope of the site by asking and answering questions during the beta. As such, should I ask example questions, similar to the way we asked them during the definition phase, or should I stick only to actual questions I have. </p>
<p>One of the problems I can see with only asking current questions is that the beta is private and time-sensitive. So if none of the beta testers have a question relating to a specific robotics area during the duration of the beta, that area should technically not make it into the scope of the site.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: I am a researcher in human-robot interaction (HRI), specifically social interaction, and have asked some HRI example questions during the definition phase but didn't get upvoted. However, this is not about me or my area specifically. Robotics is a vast field, and I would be surprised if our beta testers were a completely representative sample of that field and would all ask questions related to their field during this beta.</p>
| Should I ask questions I already know the answer to in order to shape the site? | |discussion|on-topic|etiquette|asking-questions| |
<p>Just to complete the loop: Robotics.SE will go public on <strong>Tuesday, 6 November 2012!</strong></p>
<p>Congratulations!</p>
| 72 | 2012-10-29T21:20:34.707 | <p>Congrats on making it a week in private beta. Your progress has been great, and we're happy with the general direction of the site so far. We're extending your private beta by a week to to give you a bit more time to get your questions asked in preparation for your opening day!</p>
<p>Keep up the great work!</p>
| Private Beta Extension | |discussion| |
<p>We should've started long ago. Being in private beta is no reason to hold out on accepting answers. It's fine if you want to keep the question in limbo for a few days to garner more answers (generally, questions with an accepted answer don't get many more answers)--but don't do this for weeks. Remember, the acceptance tickmark can always be undone.</p>
| 77 | 2012-11-07T21:32:13.743 | <p>I know some of us have been holding out on accepting answers to our questions to allow the site to grow and encourage people to contribute. But, now the site is going into public beta, so should we start accepting answers to questions to show the incoming people what good answers look like?</p>
| Can we begin accepting answers? | |discussion| |
<p>I don't see how "Is subsumption architecture still an active area of research is any less temporally bound than the original. The answer depends on when it's answered as much as the original. </p>
<p>I also don't see why "Developing for 8-bit AVR-s, what are the current, open and free libraries out there?" should be closed as temporally bounded (although it has several other problems justifying its closure). Leave out the word "current" and you have a very common type of question, and really, the word "current" is pretty much implied, e.g., on StackExchange, "what's a good php library for processing RSS feeds and converting to JSON?" would be a fine question. It may not say "current", but no one is interested in out of date answers, and the correct answer may well change over time. </p>
<p>I think the "temporal bounds" guide needs to be applied much more lightly than the geographic bounds guides.</p>
| 91 | 2012-11-14T19:17:02.313 | <p>We are starting to get a few questions a la "What is the current state of ...". </p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/q/403/131">What is the current state of the Google Self Driving Car Project?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/q/354/131">What is the state of subsumption architecture research?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/q/94/131">Developing for 8-bit AVR-s, what are the current, open and free libraries out there?</a> [closed]</li>
</ul>
<p>I'm not sure how well suited these questions are as the information might be out of date quite quickly. I'm also wondering if we want to develop an official stance towards questions like that or whether other SE sites already have one.</p>
| "Current state" questions | |discussion|on-topic| |
<p>No, we should not add <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/drone" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'drone'" rel="tag">drone</a> as a tag synonym for <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/uav" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'uav'" rel="tag">uav</a>.</p>
<p>After some thought and discussion in answers here on the taxonomy needed, I have suggested tag wiki entries for <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/uav" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'uav'" rel="tag">uav</a>, <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/auv" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'auv'" rel="tag">auv</a> and <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/ugv" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'ugv'" rel="tag">ugv</a>.</p>
<p>If someone asks a question not covered by these tags and has to use the suggested <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/drone" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'drone'" rel="tag">drone</a> tag instead, then I'll create a tag wiki for that too, following the same format.</p>
<p>For example:</p>
<hr />
<h1>Unmanned ground vehicle.</h1>
<p>From the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unmanned_ground_vehicle" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia page</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>An <strong>unmanned ground vehicle (UGV)</strong> is a vehicle that operates while in contact with the ground and without an onboard human presence. UGVs can be used for many applications where it may be inconvenient, dangerous, or impossible to have a human operator present. Generally, the vehicle will have a set of sensors to observe the environment, and will either autonomously make decisions about its behavior or pass the information to a human operator at a different location who will control the vehicle through teleoperation.</p>
<p>The UGV is the land-based counterpart to unmanned aerial vehicles and remotely operated underwater vehicles. Unmanned robotics are being actively developed for both civilian and military use to perform a variety of dull, dirty, and dangerous activities.</p>
</blockquote>
<h3>Note that:</h3>
<ul>
<li><p>Questions about autonomous <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unmanned_aerial_vehicle" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Unmanned aerial vehicle</a>s should use the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/uav" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'uav'" rel="tag">uav</a> tag.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Questions about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autonomous_underwater_vehicle" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Autonomous underwater vehicle</a>s should use the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/auv" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'auv'" rel="tag">auv</a> tag.</p>
</li>
<li><p>The <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/drone" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'drone'" rel="tag">drone</a> tag should only be used on questions about autonomous drones which don't fit into the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/auv" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'auv'" rel="tag">auv</a>, <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/uav" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'uav'" rel="tag">uav</a> or <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/ugv" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'ugv'" rel="tag">ugv</a> tags.</p>
</li>
<li><p>Questions about <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unmanned_ground_vehicle#Remote-Operated" rel="nofollow noreferrer">remotely operated ground vehicles</a> are probably off topic on <em>Robotics</em> and are more likely to be suitable over on <a href="https://electronics.stackexchange.com/">Electrical Engineering</a> Stack Exchange.</p>
</li>
</ul>
| 92 | 2012-11-14T23:32:20.957 | <p>Earlier I added a tag wiki for <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/uav" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'uav'" rel="tag">uav</a> and realised that it would probably be a good idea to add a tag synonym for <em>drone</em>, which is the other common term for a <em>uav</em>.</p>
<p>Is it better to suggest and add tag synonyms before they are needed, or wait until two synonymous tags get used and <em>then</em> combine them?</p>
| Should we add drone as a tag synonym for uav? | |discussion|support|tag-synonyms| |
<p>It really depends on how related the two questions are and if it is extremely likely that someone knowing the answer to one of them will know the answer to the other. If the two questions are "Is X true? If so, why?" or "Is this a problem? How do I fix it?" (eg, the LiPo question) are <em>generally</em> fine in one post. Sometimes, splitting such posts makes very little sense (and can end up in one being closed as a duplicate.)--especially in the "Is X true? If so, why?" case.</p>
<p>The second one needs splitting or pruning (though, since you've answered it already, it no longer "needs" splitting). </p>
<p>The general modus operandi is that you ask the user to either (a) split the question, or (b) prioritize and ask only one main question (and possibly a closely related supplementary one)</p>
| 105 | 2012-11-18T17:01:43.130 | <p>A couple of questions have been asked recently (including one of mine it turns out) which are really asking multiple questions. For example:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/453/how-can-one-determine-whether-a-lipo-battery-is-going-bad">How can one determine whether a LiPo battery is going bad?</a></li>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/436/how-do-i-model-a-robot/444#444">How do I model a robot?</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Should these be split into multiple posts?</p>
| Should posts asking multiple questions be split up? | |discussion|asking-questions| |
<p>Homework questions have a place.</p>
<p>But if, and only if, the question otherwise meets the FAQ, and the question shows that the questioner is not regurgitating their homework without applying any prior thought. In this case, it should be closed as off-topic, or too-localised.</p>
<p>If a questioner asks a specific on-topic robotics question, and explains why they are having problems, and what they've already done to understand the problem, then I welcome the question being asked.</p>
<p>Or as I phrased it <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/a/47/134">in answer to "How do we address questions about related subject areas?"</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>But fundamentally, as long as it is on-topic here, no matter how
on-topic it would be elsewhere, then here is fair enough.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>And that applies to Homework too.</p>
| 114 | 2012-11-26T10:08:29.973 | <p>I just learned that the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/homework" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'homework'" rel="tag">homework</a> tag <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/147100/169090">has been deprecated</a> in stackoverflow.com (duh, where have I been?).</p>
<p>I thought this would be a good time to discuss this tag on robotics.se also.</p>
<p>The reasons for and against having a homework tag is already mentioned in the post I linked above. However, the difference between robotics.se and stackoverflow, or math.se for example is that, if a student asks a question, s/he's most probably already a masters or PhD student. This means that (hopefully) they have already somewhat researched the problem.</p>
<p>What do you think? If the homework tag appeared on robotics.se, should we remove it? Or the nature of users of this site makes it different?</p>
| homework tag on robotics.se | |discussion| |
<p>As <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/a/125/37">Manishearth suggests</a> <em>"What should I do next?"</em> questions are really just <a href="http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/11/qa-is-hard-lets-go-shopping/">shopping questions</a>, which are discouraged everywhere.</p>
<p>Whether a <em>pre-requisites</em> question is on-topic really depends on how wide the question is:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>If you are asking <em>what are the pre-requisites for a robotics course</em> then it's probably too wide to be <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/faq#close">considered constructive</a>.</p></li>
<li><p>If you are asking <em>what the pre-requisites for understanding this paper on this complex area of robotics</em> then that is arguably a <em><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/faq#dontask">practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face</a></em>.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Since the question <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/q/138/37">Mathematical prerequisites for beginning graduate student in robotics</a> is somewhere inbetween these extremes, I was waiting to see what sort of answers were created before deciding whether to vote to close. I think this is question and it's answers are very borderline and illustrate the problems with list-type questions. </p>
<p>While we do desperately need more questions, I would not like to encourage list-type questions. I would rather have quality content which keeps people returning to the site than <em><a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=meh" rel="nofollow noreferrer">meh</a></em> content which doesn't.</p>
<p>Overall, I think it is better if we consider the use of <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/a/37/37">tag wikis</a> to document resources lists for questions like this.</p>
<hr>
<p>The big problem with list-type questions like this is that there are several ways of doing it, non of which are a very good fit for stack exchange.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>You ask for one list item per answer.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Pros:</p>
<p>You end up with an ordered list of list items.</p>
<p>You have the possibility that different peoples priorities can be accommodated.</p>
<p>Individual bad list item suggestions can be commented and voted on separately to good list items.</p></li>
<li><p>Cons:</p>
<p>The oldest and most popular suggestions get more votes.</p>
<p>New but better options never gain new votes as they start at the bottom where no-one every gets to see them.</p>
<p>People with many item suggestions end up writing many answers, which could discourage people from voting on more than one of them.</p></li>
<li><p>This essentially turns a list-question into a list item popularity contest with a significant bias towards those who get their suggestions in early.</p></li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>You make the question community-wiki and let people collaboratively edit it.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Pros:</p>
<p>You have a single answer which incorporates all of the suggestions everyone can make to it.</p></li>
<li><p>Cons:</p>
<p>If people disagree, you can end up having edit wars.</p></li>
<li><p>If you are going to do this though, you may as well use a <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/a/37/37">tag wiki</a>.</p></li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>You let people answer with as many list elements as they can be bothered to write</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Pros:</p>
<p>You only have one <em>answer</em> per user.</p></li>
<li><p>Cons:</p>
<p>Each answer probably only contains a subsets of the full set of useful list items.</p>
<p>Individual list items can't be voted on individually.</p></li>
<li><p>This essentially turns a list-question into a user popularity contest with a significant bias towards those who get their suggestions in early.</p></li>
</ul></li>
</ol>
| 121 | 2012-12-05T13:07:29.943 | <p>This <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/138/mathematical-prerequisites-for-beginning-graduate-student-in-robotics">question</a> asks for prerequisites for studying in a robotics course. This in my mind is rather open-ended and will result in discussions and has no single correct answer. So, are these type of questions on-topic ?
[I ask this as the linked question is still open,active and rather popular] </p>
<p>If they are, then shouldnt sources / tutorials / books to study from questions also be on - topic as they are in many ways similar to this ? </p>
<p>Both essentially require list-type answers from knowledgeable users.</p>
| Are questions asking for topics to study within robotics, on topic? | |discussion| |
<p>At the moment, we only have the community moderation team to help moderate <em>Robotics</em>, but we are <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/q/84/37">currently looking</a> for <a href="http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/07/moderator-pro-tempore/">moderators pro tempore</a> of our own.</p>
<p>Once protem moderators have been recruited, it should be easier for us to manage which meta questions need tagging with moderator only tags like <a href="/questions/tagged/faq" class="post-tag moderator-tag" title="show questions tagged 'faq'" rel="tag">faq</a> and <a href="/questions/tagged/featured" class="post-tag moderator-tag" title="show questions tagged 'featured'" rel="tag">featured</a>. Since <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/a/129/37">Manishearth mentioned it</a> I have already added a <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/q/130/37">How can I format mathematical expressions here, using MathJax?</a> question and given it the <a href="/questions/tagged/faq-proposed" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'faq-proposed'" rel="tag">faq-proposed</a> tag to suggest that this might be worthy of a <a href="/questions/tagged/faq" class="post-tag moderator-tag" title="show questions tagged 'faq'" rel="tag">faq</a> tag.</p>
| 128 | 2012-12-08T00:34:13.517 | <p>According to our <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/faq">Robotics FAQ</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>[...] our <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/">meta-discussion site</a> hosts a section of constantly evolving <strong><a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/faq">frequently asked questions</a></strong> that document everything about the site</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Unfortunately, so far there are no meta questions tagged <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/faq" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'faq'" rel="tag">faq</a>. So, is it too early yet for us to consider any questions frequent, or should we randomly tag some existing questions, or should we vote on which questions merit the faq tag? </p>
| What are our frequently asked questions on meta? | |discussion|tags| |
<h2>Getting started with MathJax</h2>
<p>On <em>Robotics Stack Exchange</em>, we use <a href="https://www.mathjax.org/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">MathJax</a> to format mathematical expressions. MathJax is a tool that lets us display LaTeX expressions on a browser.</p>
<p>To use MathJax, enclose your mathematical expressions within single(<code>$...$</code>) or double(<code>$$...$$</code>) dollar signs. Single dollar signs make the expression <em>inline</em>, for example, <code>Let $x$ be a variable</code> gives:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Let <span class="math-container">$x$</span> be a variable.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>On the other hand, double dollar signs make the expression a block element. It gets its own line, and is slightly larger. For example, <code>The equation of motion is as follows: $$v=u+at$$ It is a SUVAT equation</code> gives:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The equation of motion is as follows: <span class="math-container">$$v=u+at$$</span> It is a SUVAT equation</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Note that the extra spaces in LaTeX do not render, use <code>\:</code> or <code>~</code> for a space.</p>
<hr />
<h2>Basic MathJax</h2>
<h3>Superscripts and subscripts</h3>
<p>You can denote superscripts via the <code>^</code> character, and subscripts via <code>_</code>. For example, <code>x^2</code> renders as <span class="math-container">$x^2$</span>, <code>x_1</code> renders as <span class="math-container">$x_1$</span>, and <code>x_1^3</code> renders as <span class="math-container">$x_1^3$</span>.</p>
<p>If you want to include more than one character in the super/sub script, enclose it in curly braces (<code>{...}</code>).</p>
<p>For example, <code>x^10</code> renders as <span class="math-container">$x^10$</span>, but <code>x^{10}</code> renders as <span class="math-container">$x^{10}$</span></p>
<p>To put superscripts before the symbol, do this: <code>{^{a}R_{b}}</code> which renders as: <span class="math-container">${^{a}R_{b}}$</span></p>
<h3>Fractions and square roots</h3>
<p>Fractions can be easily displayed using <code>\frac{..}{..}</code>. For example, <code>\frac{a+b^c}{de+f}</code> renders as <span class="math-container">$\frac{a+b^c}{de+f}$</span></p>
<p>Protip: You can exclude the braces for single-character numerators/denominators (if the first character is a letter, you need to use a space after <code>\frac</code>, though). For example <code>\frac12</code> renders as <span class="math-container">$\frac12$</span>, and <code>\frac ab</code> renders as <span class="math-container">$\frac ab$</span></p>
<p>Square roots can be added in a similar manner, via <code>\sqrt{....}</code>. For example, <code>\sqrt{x+y}</code> renders as <span class="math-container">$\sqrt{x+y}$</span>.</p>
<h3>Embellishments</h3>
<p><code>\dot{x} \hat{y} \bar{h} \overrightarrow{v} J^\dagger J^{+} T^\top z' a^{\circ}</code> render as:</p>
<p><span class="math-container">$\dot{x}$</span> <span class="math-container">$\hat{y}$</span> <span class="math-container">$\bar{h}$</span> <span class="math-container">$\overrightarrow{v}$</span> <span class="math-container">$J^\dagger$</span> <span class="math-container">$J^{+}$</span> <span class="math-container">$T^\top$</span> <span class="math-container">$z'$</span> <span class="math-container">$a^{\circ}$</span></p>
<h3>Matrices and vectors</h3>
<p>Row vectors are easy enough. <code>$[xyz]$ $(xyz)$</code> render as: <span class="math-container">$[xyz]$</span> <span class="math-container">$(xyz)$</span> But you might want to use a space separator. <code>$[1,2,3]$ $[x~y~z]$ $(x~y~z)$</code> render as: <span class="math-container">$[1,2,3]$</span> <span class="math-container">$[x~y~z]$</span> <span class="math-container">$(x~y~z)$</span></p>
<p>Column vectors are done like this. <code>\begin{pmatrix} x \\ y \\ z \end{pmatrix} \begin{bmatrix} a \\ b \\ c \end{bmatrix}</code> render as:</p>
<p><span class="math-container">$$\begin{pmatrix} x \\ y \\ z \end{pmatrix}~~\begin{bmatrix} a \\ b \\ c \end{bmatrix}$$</span></p>
<p>2D matrices can also have parentheses or brackets by using <code>pmatrix</code> or <code>bmatrix</code> accordingly. Here is the structure:</p>
<pre><code>\begin{bmatrix}
r_{11} & r_{12} & r_{13}\\
r_{21} & r_{22} & r_{23}\\
r_{31} & r_{32} & r_{33}
\end{bmatrix}
</code></pre>
<p><span class="math-container">$$
\begin{bmatrix}
r_{11} & r_{12} & r_{13}\\
r_{21} & r_{22} & r_{23}\\
r_{31} & r_{32} & r_{33}
\end{bmatrix}
$$</span></p>
<h3>Operations</h3>
<p><code>\otimes \cdot \in \circ \bullet</code> render as: <span class="math-container">$\otimes$</span> <span class="math-container">$\cdot$</span> <span class="math-container">$\in$</span> <span class="math-container">$\circ$</span> <span class="math-container">$\bullet$</span></p>
<h3>Greek letters</h3>
<p>Greek letters can be added usung a backslash (<code>\</code>), followed by the name of the letter. Captialise the first letter of the name for greek capital letters.</p>
<p>Eg <code>\alpha \beta \gamma \delta \Omega \Delta</code> renders as <span class="math-container">$\alpha$</span> <span class="math-container">$\beta$</span> <span class="math-container">$\gamma$</span> <span class="math-container">$\delta$</span> <span class="math-container">$\Omega$</span> <span class="math-container">$\Delta$</span>.</p>
<p>Make sure that you put spaces after these if you are typing normal alphabet characters. Eg <code>e^{\pii}</code> gives an error, you need to use <code>e^{\pi i}</code> for <span class="math-container">$e^{\pi i}$</span>.</p>
<p>Note that there are special commands <code>\varepsilon \varsigma \varrho \varpi</code> to distinguish between the lunate Greek letters (<span class="math-container">$\varepsilon$</span> <span class="math-container">$\varsigma$</span> <span class="math-container">$\varrho$</span> <span class="math-container">$\varpi$</span> rather than <span class="math-container">$\epsilon$</span> <span class="math-container">$\sigma$</span> <span class="math-container">$\rho$</span> <span class="math-container">$\pi$</span>).</p>
<h3>Misc. Symbols</h3>
<p><code>\nabla \infty \partial</code> renders as <span class="math-container">$\nabla$</span> <span class="math-container">$\infty$</span> <span class="math-container">$\partial$</span></p>
<h3>Font stuff</h3>
<p><code>boldsymbol</code> and <code>mathbf</code> have slightly different results: for example: <code>\boldsymbol{x} \mathbf{x}</code> render as: <span class="math-container">$\boldsymbol{x}$</span> <span class="math-container">$\mathbf{x}$</span></p>
<p>Another fancy font: <code>\mathbb{R}</code> renders as: <span class="math-container">$\mathbb{R}$</span></p>
<h2>Further reading</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://math.meta.stackexchange.com/q/5020/9281">MathJax basic tutorial and quick reference</a> (over on <a href="https://math.stackexchange.com/">Mathematics stack exchange</a> meta)</li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:Displaying_a_formula" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wikipedia TeX help page</a> (extremely useful as a reference, useless as a tutorial)</li>
<li><a href="http://www.math.harvard.edu/texman/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Harvard intro to TeX</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Mathematics" rel="nofollow noreferrer">LaTeX wikibook, Math section</a></li>
<li><a href="http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/LaTeX/Advanced_Mathematics" rel="nofollow noreferrer">LaTeX wikibook, Advanced Math section</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Thanks to <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/users/126/manishearth">Manishearth</a> for the <a href="https://chemistry.meta.stackexchange.com/a/88">chem.SE answer</a> on which this is based.</p>
| 130 | 2012-12-11T13:35:00.857 | <p>Blatantly ripped off from <a href="https://chemistry.meta.stackexchange.com/q/86">chem.SE</a>, this post is meant to help people understand how to use MathJax formatting of mathematical expressions here on <em>Robotics</em>.</p>
| How can I format mathematical expressions here, using MathJax? | |discussion|faq|formatting|mathjax| |
<p>Your sense of alarm over an impending deadline are unfounded. There is no "failure to meet Area 51 requirements" and there is no 90-day deadline. Each site has a unique scope and audience, so trying to compare traffic statistics to larger subjects is also without basis. Also understand that <strong>all</strong> sites fall off after their opening spike before they start their trend towards normal growth. </p>
<p>I don't mean to derail any discussions aimed at improving a site, but before you start on an incorrect premise, you should probably read this blog post to clear up some misconceptions.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Anytime you find yourself answering the same question over and over and over and over … blog post time. This is that blog post.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>From the blog post: <a href="http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/07/does-this-site-have-a-chance-of-succeeding/"><strong>Does this site have a chance of succeeding?</strong></a></p>
| 134 | 2012-12-12T10:48:59.073 | <p>As we can see in <a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/40020/robotics">area 51</a>, robotics.SE is lacking users (and as a result questions/day and visits/day). I am guessing once the 90 days public beta test finishes, this site wouldn't be in good enough shape.</p>
<p>Everyone will be a <a href="https://parenting.stackexchange.com/?as=1">parent</a> one day, but roboticists are very few, so in some sense it's not fair to apply the same standards to both such websites. Nevertheless, the activities on this website <em>have</em> gone much lower that when the beta started.</p>
<p>Besides the fewer number of people interested in robotics, there is also the problem that most questions end up being very specific to a certain hardware or algorithm, and therefore generate smaller number of answers as one would like.</p>
<p>I would like to start a discussion regarding the survivability of this website. We have been talking about <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/q/46/158">how to promote the website</a>, but clearly that hasn't been enough. We could try to convince SE that given the nature of this website (requiring high specialization), we need more time, or smaller requirements. However, I <em>do</em> think that the site is not active enough.</p>
<p>What can be done? Is this website doing good for roboticists as much as <a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/1924/graphic-design">graphics design</a> is doing for designers? If so, how should we make SE understand that this website is good, even though their statistics say otherwise? If not, how should we make this website more appealing to people?</p>
<p>From my experience in stackoverflow, hard questions that require expertise are not that many, but most questions are the googleable type. In robotics.SE, we don't really get the second kind of question, so even though the questions here are fewer, the noob-aside part of this website will be as good as stackoverflow (even better since its not cluttered by easy questions). I don't want to see this website go!</p>
| Failure to meet Area 51 requirements? | |discussion| |
<blockquote>
<p>I added a brief clarification in a comment to the question. Should this have been edited into the original question?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yes, that's right. Questions should, as far as possible stand on their own, so people can answer the question without <em>having</em> to read through the comments too.</p>
<p>The primary purpose of comments are to help make questions and answers better, so ideally if someone asks for clarification in a comment, you would edit that information into the question (or answer) and the commenter would then tidy up (remove) their comment later. That way, once all of the comments on a question (or answer) have been resolved, the question (or answer) would be left with no comments to distract from it.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>when I received the first answer, I realized that the wording of my question caused the answer-er to make an unintended assumption about the question, which I then clarified in a comment to the answer. Should this clarification have been immediately edited into the original question?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Again, yes. What I would do is edit the question to provide clarification and prevent future answerers from making the same erroneous assumptions, and then comment on the answer to say that the question has been updated.</p>
<p>If the answer gets updated to answer the revised question, the comment can be tidied up (deleted) since it is no longer relevant.</p>
<p>If the answerer <em>doesn't</em> edit the answer to update it to the revised question, it would be reasonable to leave the comment there as a pointer to the fact that the question has changed since the answer was created.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I went ahead and edited the question to include all the clarifications. But now, the first answer is out-of-date and does not address the new question. I've maintained my vote in favor of the first answer because even though it didn't solve my problem, it was helpful in causing me to view my question more carefully for points I had missed. Is this a good idea?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>That's just how it should work. If you look at the tooltip text when you hover over the up-vote button, it says <em>"This answer is useful"</em>, not <em>"This answer is correct"</em>. An answer can be useful even if it doesn't fully answer the question posed, it may, as appears to be the case here, still be a good stepping stone on the way to a full answer.</p>
<p>The fact that the answer doesn't quite fit the revised question isn't really a problem, as long as that fact is obvious. One of the great strengths of Stack Exchange is that it <em>does</em> support and promote this collaborative way of asking and answering question. You can see the full revision history of every question or answer at any time so you can always go back and see how questions and answers have evolved over time.</p>
<p>Of course this shouldn't be abused, you don't want people accusing you of pulling a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bait-and-switch" rel="nofollow">bait and switch</a>, but the situation you describe here is <em>expected</em> and is <em>very common</em> on Stack Exchange.</p>
| 137 | 2012-12-12T18:45:02.753 | <p>Are there any guidelines for how to handle changing questions? Take the following question:</p>
<p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/q/649/13">Does RRT* guarantee asymptotic optimality for a minimum clearance cost metric?</a></p>
<p>A couple of things happened here:</p>
<ul>
<li>I added a brief clarification in a comment to the question. Should this have been edited into the original question?</li>
<li>when I received the first answer, I realized that the wording of my question caused the answer-er to make an unintended assumption about the question, which I then clarified in a comment to the answer. Should this clarification have been immediately edited into the original question?</li>
<li>I went ahead and edited the question to include all the clarifications. But now, the first answer is out-of-date and does not address the new question. I've maintained my vote in favor of the first answer because even though it didn't solve my problem, it was helpful in causing me to view my question more carefully for points I had missed. Is this a good idea?</li>
</ul>
<p>It seems perfectly reasonable for a question-asker to not yet have completely crystalized the question before putting it on the site, and having some incomplete answers at the beginning can be a great help in clarifying the question and ensuring that ensuing answers indeed answer the question intended by the asker.</p>
| How do we handle changing questions? | |discussion| |
<p>Normally tag synonyms are created when there is a problem with some people using one tag, some people using another, and some people using both. At this point, the tag synonyms are created and posts with either are considered the same for tagging purposes.</p>
<p>At the moment, we have a couple of <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/not-exactly-c" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'not-exactly-c'" rel="tag">not-exactly-c</a> tagged questions and no <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/nxc" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'nxc'" rel="tag">nxc</a> tagged questions, so we aren't having a problem <em>yet</em>.</p>
<p>That's not to say it won't be a problem later, so it's good to bring these sorts of issues up, but I doubt it will be a priority for the stack exchange community moderators. When we get some <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/q/84/37">protem mods</a> though, they might be more likely to act on anticipated tag synonyms like this.</p>
| 140 | 2012-12-13T20:25:07.667 | <p>Could someone please add <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/nxc" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'nxc'" rel="tag">nxc</a> as a synonym for the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/not-exactly-c" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'not-exactly-c'" rel="tag">not-exactly-c</a> tag? NXC is an acronym of Not eXactly C, and is often used to refer to the language. I would do it myself if I had enough reputation.</p>
| Request to create synonym for not-exactly-c tag | |feature-request|status-completed|tag-synonyms| |
<p>IMO, it should be</p>
<p>3) IC specific tags are not OK</p>
<p>Tags are for searching/filtering purposes. I really don't see a scenario when a user wants to search/filter questions only about a certain IC. Maybe an IC <em>family</em>, but not a certain IC. </p>
<p>What's better would be tags for <em>classes</em> of ICs. E.g. <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/78xx" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged '78xx'" rel="tag">78xx</a>, <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/motor-driver" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'motor-driver'" rel="tag">motor-driver</a>, etc. (not saying those would be good tags for Robotics.SE, just examples)</p>
| 144 | 2012-12-23T07:56:04.163 | <p>We've had a <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/684/lm2576-circuit-suddenly-cuts-down-the-power">question asked about the LM2576</a> - which the OP added the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/lm2576" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'lm2576'" rel="tag">lm2576</a> tag.</p>
<p>This was quickly revised by a suggested edit to remove that tag, and to stick with suitable generics.</p>
<p>I had sympathy with that view so approved the edit... in my view, we're not Electronics.SE so are unlikely to have too may questions relating to any specific IC, never mind enough to justify having individual tags. And in the unlikely event that a single IC gains critical mass, then we can always introduce that tag later.</p>
<p>But now I'm having second thoughts... so I'd like to sound out the group so we can establish a general policy.</p>
<ol>
<li>IC specific tags are OK for all ICs</li>
<li>IC specific tags are OK for common ICs</li>
<li>IC specific tags are not OK</li>
<li>Something else</li>
</ol>
<p>Discuss...</p>
| Discussion: IC specific tags | |discussion|tags| |
<p>Questions <em>asking for opinions</em> tend to get closed as <em>not constructive</em> on most Stack Exchange sites.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/faq#close">not constructive</a> close reason says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>As it currently stands, this question is not a good fit for our Q&A format. We expect answers to be supported by facts, references, or specific expertise, but this question will likely solicit debate, arguments, polling, or extended discussion. If you feel that this question can be improved and possibly reopened, see the FAQ for guidance. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Much better would be to ask <em><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/faq#dontask">practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face</a></em>.</p>
<p>Ultimately though, many answers on stack exchange are more opinion than fact, and design choices are often informed more by convention and belief than by experience and experimentation, so we have to accommodate answers less rooted in fact. We do however <em>prefer</em> poeple to <em>back it up</em>. See the <a href="http://blog.stackoverflow.com/">Stack Exchange Blog</a> post <em><a href="http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/09/good-subjective-bad-subjective/">Good Subjective, Bad Subjective</a></em>.</p>
<p>How your question is phrased could very much impact on the perception of your question. For instance</p>
<ul>
<li>What sort of arm should I use for my Robot?</li>
</ul>
<p>implies that you want opinions. Whereas</p>
<ul>
<li>What design considerations do I need to take into account when selecting an arm for a robot used under <em>these conditions</em>?</li>
</ul>
<p>would be <em>much</em> more likely to be answered and voted up. Especially if you explain what options you have considered and what your concerns are about those options.</p>
| 153 | 2013-01-16T10:22:51.003 | <p>I'm designing a complex robot and I've got some ideas that I want to get opinions on before beginning development. Is that OK, or should I make the question more answerable?</p>
| Is it ok to ask for opinions? | |discussion|asking-questions| |
<p>I'm Sorry, but tag wikis are not an appropriate place to solicit followers. Advertising a proposal in a tag wiki would not be appropriate.</p>
<p>I know it sounds like a harmless bit of advertising, but there are thousands of proposals who want to be heard. Many have tried posting their announcements to our Q&A sites, adding comments to related questions, posting them throughout the meta site discussions, and even <em>announcing</em> them in related proposal subjects. It becomes very noisy fast. </p>
<p>We work hard to keep such solicitations out of our communities, and advertising a proposal in areas where such activities are discouraged will only encourage that same behavior from many many others. </p>
<p>I'm sorry, but advertising is not allowed in tag wikis.</p>
| 158 | 2013-02-02T04:00:57.213 | <p>The <a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/49538/arduino">Arduino site proposal</a> would interest a lot of the users of this site, so is it alright to promote it through the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/arduino" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'arduino'" rel="tag">arduino</a> tag wiki ? </p>
| Is it alright to promote a site proposal through the relevant Tag wikis? | |discussion| |
<p>We already have this, but you can only see it <strong>if you aren't logged on</strong>.</p>
<p>If you navigate to <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/">robotics</a> in a different browser (or using a new browser profile) then you see a welcome box saying the following:</p>
<blockquote>
<h3>Welcome!</h3>
<p>This is a collaboratively edited question and answer site for <strong>professional robotic engineers, hobbyists, researchers and students</strong>. It's 100% free, no registration required.</p>
<p>Got a question about the site itself? <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/">meta</a> is the place to talk about things like what questions are appropriate, what tags we should use, etc.</p>
<p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/about?mnu=1">about »</a> <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/faq?mnu=1">faq »</a> <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/">meta »</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>While on <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/">meta</a> says:</p>
<blockquote>
<h3>Welcome!</h3>
<p>This site is for <strong>discussion</strong> about <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/">Robotics - Stack Exchange</a>. You must have an account there to participate.</p>
<p><a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/faq?mnu=1">faq »</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>This is just the same as on other stack exchange sites.</p>
| 162 | 2013-02-12T20:32:29.833 | <p>What if we start with the math.SE welcome note, and take it from there.</p>
<p>"Welcome!
This is a collaboratively edited question and answer site for people studying <strong>robotics</strong> at any level and professionals in related fields. It's 100% free, no registration required.</p>
<p>Got a question about the site itself? meta is the place to talk about things like what questions are appropriate, what tags we should use, etc."</p>
<p>Other ideas?</p>
| Could we please edit our landing page / welcome note | |discussion|moderators|moderation|design| |
<p>Robotics is currently in public beta, as its <a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/40020/robotics">Area 51 profile</a> shows. It will remain so until it reaches "critical mass", which I think is SE speak for "when we think you're ready". Have a look at the <a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/faq">Area 51 FAQ</a> as well as the SO blog post <a href="http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2011/07/does-this-site-have-a-chance-of-succeeding/">Does this site have a chance of succeeding?</a> for some more details on the process.</p>
| 165 | 2013-03-28T17:56:38.943 | <p>Isn't the site out of beta currently? Should the title reflect that?</p>
| Why is the site called 'robotics beta'? | |discussion| |
<h1>Final Results</h1>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1221/quadrotor-control-using-arduimu">Quadrotor control using ArduIMU</a></p>
<p><strong>Net Score: 0</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 3, Needs Improvement: 1)</p>
</li>
<li><p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1246/using-an-xbox-controller-to-fly-a-quadrocopter">Using an Xbox controller to fly a Quadrocopter</a></p>
<p><strong>Net Score: 1</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 3, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
</li>
<li><p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1301/what-are-the-signs-that-a-servo-might-be-broken">What are the signs that a servo might be broken?</a></p>
<p><strong>Net Score: 2</strong> (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
</li>
<li><p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1219/drone-targeting">Drone targeting</a></p>
<p><strong>Net Score: 0</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 1)</p>
</li>
<li><p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1270/how-to-detect-when-a-stepper-motor-has-stalled">How to detect when a stepper motor has stalled?</a></p>
<p><strong>Net Score: 0</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 1)</p>
</li>
<li><p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1276/how-can-a-load-be-balanced-between-multiple-ac-electric-drive-motors">How can a load be balanced between multiple AC electric drive motors?</a></p>
<p><strong>Net Score: 1</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
</li>
<li><p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1218/how-do-i-adjust-objects-on-a-conveyor-belt-into-the-proper-orientation">How do I adjust objects on a conveyor belt into the proper orientation?</a></p>
<p><strong>Net Score: 1</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
</li>
<li><p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1259/how-to-measure-and-dispense-a-finite-amount-of-powder-or-liquid">How to measure and dispense a finite amount of powder or liquid</a></p>
<p><strong>Net Score: 0</strong> (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
</li>
<li><p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1211/what-kind-of-sensor-do-i-need-for-knowing-that-something-is-placed-at-a-position">What kind of sensor do i need for knowing that something is placed at a position?</a></p>
<p><strong>Net Score: 1</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
</li>
<li><p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1253/what-is-the-difference-between-task-level-and-joint-level-control-systems">What is the difference between Task-Level and Joint-Level Control Systems?</a></p>
<p><strong>Net Score: 1</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
</li>
</ul>
| 181 | 2013-06-20T03:00:58.930 | <p>We all love <a href="http://robotics.stackexchange.com">Robotics Stack Exchange</a>, but there is a whole world of people out there who need answers to their questions and don't even know that this site exists. When they arrive from Google, what will their first impression be? Let's try to look at this site through the eyes of someone who's never seen it before, and see how we stack up against the rest of the 'Net.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/review/site-eval">Site Self-Evaluation review queue</a> is open and populated with 10 questions that were asked and answered in the last quarter. Run a few Google searches to see how easy they are to find and compare the answers we have with the information available on other sites.</p>
<p>Rating the questions is only a part of the puzzle, though. Do you see a pattern of questions that should have been closed but are not? Questions or answers that could use an edit? Anything that's going really well? <strong>Post an answer below to share your thoughts</strong> and discuss these questions and the site's health with your fellow users!</p>
| Let's get critical: Jun 2013 Site Self-Evaluation | |discussion|site-evaluation| |
<p>At the time it was closed <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/revisions/1474/1">your question was</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<h3>Is the Raspberry Pi too good to be true?</h3>
<p>The Raspberry Pi motherboard is $25-35 depending on the model purchased. It seems like the Raspberry Pi would be provide poor performance for that price. For such a low price, does the Raspberry Pi work well or does the device have many issues?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>There are several problems here.</p>
<p>Firstly, it isn't actually about <em>robotics</em> so it really should have been closed as off-topic and migrated to <a href="https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/">Raspberry Pi stack exchange</a>.</p>
<p>Sadly if we had done this, it would still have been put on hold due to the other problems. It is simply just too broad. Does the Raspberry Pi work well <em>for what</em>? Does it have many issues when <em>doing what</em>? There is a huge difference between doing some light web browsing or python coding and trying to implement a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simultaneous_localization_and_mapping" rel="nofollow noreferrer">SLAM system</a> for controlling a mobile robot.</p>
<p>That is why all stack exchange sites prefer <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/dont-ask"><em>practical, answerable questions based on actual problems that you face</em></a> since <em>Chatty, open-ended questions diminish the usefulness of our site and push other questions off the front page</em>.</p>
<hr>
<p>Your question <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/revisions/1474/2">is currently</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<h3>How well is the Raspberry Pi's performance?</h3>
<p>How well is the Raspberry Pi's performance? By this, I mean can the Raspberry Pi handle applications like Python3 interpreter, BASH scripts, coffeescript, javascript, and web browsers as well as current laptops? How does the Raspberry Pi compare to Android devices? The reason I ask is because it seems like a $25-35 motherboard and CPU would not work well.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Primarily this still it isn't actually about <em>robotics</em>, so at best it should be migrated.</p>
<p>This is still asking for opinions without any practical focus. As such it would almost certainly be closed over on <a href="https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/">Raspberry Pi stack exchange</a> for these same reasons. Since I don't want to migrate a question which they would close anyway, I would rather leave it closed here until you have decided whether you can make it into a viable question.</p>
<p>For other resources, I would suggest that you look at our <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/about">About page</a> and our <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help">Help Centre</a>, in particular <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/how-to-ask">How do I ask a good question?</a> and <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic">What topics can I ask about here?</a></p>
<p>Thanks for your eagerness to improve your question, I hope this answer helps you understand what you need to do to ask practical questions in the future.</p>
| 185 | 2013-06-25T23:48:43.193 | <p>How can I improve the question <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/q/1474/37">How well is the Raspberry Pi's performance?</a></p>
<p>I do not want to delete it if it can be made better.</p>
| Improving this Raspberry Pi question | |discussion|editing| |
<p>The <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/robotc" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'robotc'" rel="tag">robotc</a> tag refers to a specific programming environment.</p>
<p>I have updated the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/tags/robotc/info">tag wiki</a> to explain this.</p>
<p>All questions should be related to robotic systems, so a <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/robotic" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'robotic'" rel="tag">robotic</a> tag would serve no purpose.</p>
| 187 | 2013-06-26T14:01:57.087 | <p>I found this misspelled tag - <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/tags/robotc/info">https://robotics.stackexchange.com/tags/robotc/info</a>.
<br/>It is supposed to say "robotic".</p>
| Misspelled Tag (Robotc) | |bug|status-bydesign| |
<p>I have added the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/natural-language" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'natural-language'" rel="tag">natural-language</a> tag to your question, but sadly it has become apparent that your question is just a thinly veiled advert for your project.</p>
<p>Please read <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/behavior">What kind of behavior is expected of users?</a> and avoid <em>self-promotion</em> in the future. If your question had been a <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/dont-ask"><em>practical, answerable question based on an actual problem you face</em></a>, then this self-promotion would probably not have even been spotted.</p>
| 189 | 2013-06-26T14:15:29.850 | <p>I want to suggest a new tag - Language. This would be used by questions that ask about giving robots speech abilities. For instance, this question could use the language tag (<a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1476/does-xaiml-have-any-potential-future-in-language-abilities-for-robots">https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1476/does-xaiml-have-any-potential-future-in-language-abilities-for-robots</a>).</p>
| Tag suggestion - Language | |feature-request|status-completed| |
<p>A tag can be created by simply tagging a question...</p>
<p>I'd have no problem with a tag <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/line-following" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'line-following'" rel="tag">line-following</a> as long as it is populated with a suitable definition... I've retagged (most) relevant questions.</p>
<p>Just need someone to write the tag wiki :)</p>
| 201 | 2013-08-20T06:03:42.277 | <p>I'm seeing quite some questions regarding line following robots. What do you say we add a specific tag for it? It makes sense for some questions such as <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/q/1728/158">this one</a> and others.</p>
| Should we add a `line-following` tag? | |discussion|status-completed|tags| |
<p>Futher to Mark's answer, while I don't put too much effort into following the stats, the one that bugs me a bit is:</p>
<pre><code>committed users
274 users committed
77% signed up for beta
6.9% fulfilled commitment
followers
287 users followed
49.8% signed up for beta
</code></pre>
<p>Only <strong>6.9%</strong> fulfilled their commitment!!</p>
| 203 | 2013-09-03T21:17:16.820 | <p>When does this site get its own design and how will be choose the designer? I would like to make a webdesign design proposal then.</p>
| What is the process of this site getting its own design? | |support|design| |
<h1>Final Results</h1>
<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1642/how-to-speed-up-robotic-arm">How to speed up robotic arm?</a></p>
<p><strong>Net Score: 2</strong> (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 4, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
</li>
<li><p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1653/calculate-position-of-differential-drive-robot">Calculate position of differential drive robot</a></p>
<p><strong>Net Score: 5</strong> (Excellent: 5, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
</li>
<li><p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1660/how-to-protect-the-milk-in-a-homemade-vending-machine">How to protect the milk in a homemade vending machine?</a></p>
<p><strong>Net Score: 0</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 4, Needs Improvement: 1)</p>
</li>
<li><p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1670/moldable-rubber-for-feet">Moldable rubber for "feet"</a></p>
<p><strong>Net Score: 3</strong> (Excellent: 3, Satisfactory: 3, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
</li>
<li><p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1695/help-with-pid-units-in-a-quadcopter-control-system">Help with PID "units" in a quadcopter control system</a></p>
<p><strong>Net Score: 4</strong> (Excellent: 4, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
</li>
<li><p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1712/what-is-the-difference-between-rc-motors-for-cars-and-helicopters">What is the difference between RC motors for cars and helicopters?</a></p>
<p><strong>Net Score: 5</strong> (Excellent: 5, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
</li>
<li><p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1750/design-calculations-mathematical-modeling-of-tricopters">Design Calculations & Mathematical Modeling of Tricopters</a></p>
<p><strong>Net Score: -2</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 3)</p>
</li>
<li><p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1755/any-globally-unique-signature-in-ardupilot-hardware-or-arduino-in-general">Any globally unique signature in Ardupilot hardware, or Arduino in general?</a></p>
<p><strong>Net Score: 3</strong> (Excellent: 3, Satisfactory: 3, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
</li>
<li><p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1678/smooth-servo-movement-for-a-crawling-robot">Smooth servo movement for a crawling robot</a></p>
<p><strong>Net Score: 4</strong> (Excellent: 4, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
</li>
<li><p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1684/wind-force-impact-on-torque-mechanical-arm">Wind force impact on torque mechanical arm</a></p>
<p><strong>Net Score: 2</strong> (Excellent: 3, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 1)</p>
</li>
</ul>
| 212 | 2013-09-18T03:01:01.207 | <p>We all love <a href="http://robotics.stackexchange.com">Robotics Stack Exchange</a>, but there is a whole world of people out there who need answers to their questions and don't even know that this site exists. When they arrive from Google, what will their first impression be? Let's try to look at this site through the eyes of someone who's never seen it before, and see how we stack up against the rest of the 'Net.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/review/site-eval">Site Self-Evaluation review queue</a> is open and populated with 10 questions that were asked and answered in the last quarter. Run a few Google searches to see how easy they are to find and compare the answers we have with the information available on other sites.</p>
<p>Rating the questions is only a part of the puzzle, though. Do you see a pattern of questions that should have been closed but are not? Questions or answers that could use an edit? Anything that's going really well? <strong>Post an answer below to share your thoughts</strong> and discuss these questions and the site's health with your fellow users!</p>
| Let's get critical: Sep 2013 Site Self-Evaluation | |discussion|site-evaluation| |
<p>I think this is so much wide and opinion based, even in a wiki there will be opinions just based on "I like these". The question needs to be very clear about what the project needs, and the answer should be technical about why the suggested platform is a better choice.</p>
<p>If it's a beginner just wanting to start, I agree with the OP, so the ask can know some choices in the market and their advantage from a less technical explanation.</p>
<p>Other than that, the choice of a micro-controller, microprocessor, or a platform like Arduino, depending on the project, is so dependent on technical questions that are subjected to high and long discussions.</p>
| 214 | 2013-09-27T09:46:10.500 | <p>I'm starting to see questions that ask what microcontroller to choose as a beginner, such as <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/q/1893/158">https://robotics.stackexchange.com/q/1893/158</a>, <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/q/1881/158">Should you learn assembly language for robotics?</a> and <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/q/1896/158">https://robotics.stackexchange.com/q/1896/158</a>.</p>
<p>Do you think we should write a FAQ like <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/q/562303/912144">The Definitive C Book Guide and List</a> for example so we can direct these questions to that FAQ? Maybe one that explains what factors to consider when choosing a microcontroller and what are some of the most common ones?</p>
| Answers to "what microcontroller to buy" | |discussion| |
<p>Note that <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/servos" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'servos'" rel="tag">servos</a> vs. <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/servomotor" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'servomotor'" rel="tag">servomotor</a> is actually different to <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/stepper" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'stepper'" rel="tag">stepper</a> vs. <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/stepper-motor" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'stepper-motor'" rel="tag">stepper-motor</a>.</p>
<p>The tag hierarchy for the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/servos" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'servos'" rel="tag">servos</a> tag is:</p>
<ul>
<li>As explained in the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/tags/servos/info">servos tag wiki</a>, the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/servos" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'servos'" rel="tag">servos</a> tag is only for questions which don't fit into a more specific category:
<ul>
<li>The <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/rcservo" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'rcservo'" rel="tag">rcservo</a> tag is for questions about hobby servos, see the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/tags/rcservo/info">rcservo tag wiki</a>.</li>
<li>The <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/servomotor" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'servomotor'" rel="tag">servomotor</a> tag is for questions about industrial servos, see the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/tags/servomotor/info">servomotor tag wiki</a>.</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<p>As to the <a href="/questions/tagged/tags" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'tags'" rel="tag">tags</a> vs. <a href="/questions/tagged/tagging" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'tagging'" rel="tag">tagging</a> confusion, I have just fixed that too.</p>
| 216 | 2013-10-18T22:39:14.627 | <p>Not much to say here really, the title really explains it. <strike>Unless they have different meanings, they are the same thing.</strike> [Facepalm because of a typo: kinda self implied. <em>If a, then a.</em>] <em>Correction:</em> <strong>Unless I am mistaken, they are both the same exact thing and should be synonymized.</strong> (Is that even a word?)</p>
<p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/stepper" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'stepper'" rel="tag">stepper</a> vs. <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/stepper-motor" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'stepper-motor'" rel="tag">stepper-motor</a> is like a <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/servo" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'servo'" rel="tag">servo</a> vs. <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/servomotor" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'servomotor'" rel="tag">servomotor</a>.</p>
<p>[By the way moderators feel free to edit the tags; it's hard to pick between <a href="/questions/tagged/tags" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'tags'" rel="tag">tags</a> and <a href="/questions/tagged/tagging" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'tagging'" rel="tag">tagging</a>. Maybe I should start another post, but what to tag that...]</p>
| Can we make "stepper" and "stepper-motor" synonyms? | |discussion|status-completed|tags|tag-synonyms| |
<h1>Final Results</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/2011/how-to-calculate-right-and-left-speed-for-a-tank-like-rover">How to calculate the right and left speed for a tank-like rover?</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 3</strong> (Excellent: 3, Satisfactory: 0, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/2042/choosing-correct-power-supply-for-stepper-motors">Choosing correct power supply for Stepper Motors</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 3</strong> (Excellent: 3, Satisfactory: 0, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/2068/my-pi-is-losing-power-in-a-surge">My Raspberry Pi is losing power in a surge</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 3</strong> (Excellent: 3, Satisfactory: 0, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1978/accelerometers-error-bma020-and-bma180">Accelerometers error (BMA020 and BMA180)</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 2</strong> (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/2053/odd-l293d-behavior-pin-16-seems-to-act-as-enable">Odd L293D behavior: Pin 16 seems to act as enable</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 2</strong> (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1976/usage-of-multibeam-2d-imaging-sonar-for-auvs-testing-them-in-the-pool-environme">Usage of Multibeam 2D Imaging Sonar for AUVs, testing them in the pool environment</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 2</strong> (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 0, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/2036/making-high-can-baud-rates-work">Making high CAN baud rates work</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 1</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 0, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1983/can-you-have-a-career-in-robotics-if-you-hate-mechanics">Can you have a career in robotics if you hate mechanics?</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 0</strong> (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 3, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/2056/bluetooth-module-hc-05-giving-error-0">Bluetooth module HC-05 giving ERROR :(0)</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 0</strong> (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/1985/slam-without-landmarks">SLAM without landmarks?</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: -1</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 0, Needs Improvement: 2)</p>
<hr />
| 220 | 2013-12-17T03:01:09.300 | <p>We all love <a href="http://robotics.stackexchange.com">Robotics Stack Exchange</a>, but there is a whole world of people out there who need answers to their questions and don't even know that this site exists. When they arrive from Google, what will their first impression be? Let's try to look at this site through the eyes of someone who's never seen it before, and see how we stack up against the rest of the 'Net.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/review/site-eval">Site Self-Evaluation review queue</a> is open and populated with 10 questions that were asked and answered in the last quarter. Run a few Google searches to see how easy they are to find and compare the answers we have with the information available on other sites.</p>
<p>Rating the questions is only a part of the puzzle, though. Do you see a pattern of questions that should have been closed but are not? Questions or answers that could use an edit? Anything that's going really well? <strong>Post an answer below to share your thoughts</strong> and discuss these questions and the site's health with your fellow users!</p>
| Let's get critical: Dec 2013 Site Self-Evaluation | |discussion|site-evaluation| |
<p>From the <a href="https://meta.stackoverflow.com/help/closed-questions">help center</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Questions are marked [on hold] for the first five days after closure to encourage edits and improvements to the question. If a question is edited by the original poster when it is marked [on hold], it will automatically be placed in a review queue to be considered for reopening. If it is not reopened within five days, the [on hold] notice automatically changes to [closed]. There is functionally no difference between an [on hold] question and a [closed] one; neither can be answered until it is re-opened, but <strong>they both allow comments, votes and edits</strong>. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>That means a closed question will still show up in the search results and can be voted upon (no difference in rep either, as far as I am aware). Leaving it closed, in my opinion, serves the double purpose of preserving the answer for future visitors while still showing them that this is not the type of question that should be asked.</p>
<p>It is true that a closed question becomes eligible for deletion but it will only be <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/5222/193737">deleted automatically</a> for the following reasons </p>
<blockquote>
<ol>
<li>The system will automatically delete any post flagged six times as offensive or spam.</li>
<li>The system will will automatically delete closed (not as a duplicate), unlocked questions with zero or negative score having no upvoted or accepted answers or pending reopen votes, that were closed 9 or more days ago and haven't been edited in the past 9 days.</li>
<li>The system will automatically delete unlocked, unanswered questions that have negative score after 30 days.</li>
<li>The system will automatically delete unlocked, unanswered questions with score of zero (or one if the owner is deleted), fewer than 1.5 views per day on average, and fewer than two comments after 365 days.</li>
<li>The system will automatically delete any question (and its answers) or answer with a score less than 0 when its owner's account is deleted.</li>
<li>The system will automatically delete questions migrated to other sites after 30 days.</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>So your answer should be safe unless people explicitly flag the question for deletion.</p>
| 224 | 2013-12-27T15:32:18.047 | <p><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/2151/what-micro-controller-should-i-use">This</a> question was recently asked, and despite it's opinion-based nature I tried to answer it with the most factual answer I could. However, it got <code>closed as primarily opinion-based.</code></p>
<p>I can understand why, but in the small description below is says:</p>
<pre><code>answers to this question will tend to be almost entirely based on opinions, rather than facts, references, or specific expertise.
</code></pre>
<p>I feel that <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/2151/what-micro-controller-should-i-use/2153#2153">my answer</a> was sufficiently based on <code>facts and references</code>, and that the question is now valid. My answer provides enough good information to help someone make a decision, and has little/no opinion in it.</p>
<p>Basically I want to know if having a good answer to a closed question can merit it a reopen. I think it should, as the answer could be helpful to others, assuming it is well written and not opinion-based.</p>
| Can a good answer be reason enough to reopen a closed question? | |discussion|closed-questions| |
<p>I certainly have no problem with students asking questions here, but as with all questions they need to be sufficiently well researched, clear questions appropriate for this site.</p>
<p>Questions which don't live up to the standards of quality expected should be questioned, commented upon and ultimately edited to attain the quality they need.</p>
<p>I don't think there is any need for people to explicitly flag themselves as students. If the question is already good enough then it won't add anything and if it isn't good enough then fixing the question is more important than blaming anyone. Many good questions have come from the seeds of poorly written, poorly understood questions which have been through multiple revisions to make them clearer.</p>
| 237 | 2014-02-26T17:17:52.123 | <p>I am one of the organizers of <a href="http://www.robo-crc.ca" rel="nofollow noreferrer">a robotics competition</a> for high school students. We're entering our 14th year. Over the years, the students have amassed a fairly sophisticated level of technical knowledge, expertise and understanding, which has been passed down institutionally.</p>
<p>One of the keys to our competition is that <em>all</em> of the work on their robots must be performed directly by students. So, while adult expert 'mentors' are available, they only offer guidance and may not always have an answer to a particular question.</p>
<p>So, in a vaguely similar vein to <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/3/what-level-of-technical-detail-is-appropriate-and-on-topic-for-this-site">What level of technical detail is appropriate and on-topic for this site?</a> (and my not being new to the Stack) I wanted to check with this group to ensure that it would find it appropriate for us to actively direct students here as part of their resource pool.</p>
<p>I think it would be a great resource, and offer the young students a chance to engage with professionals and expert hobbyists alike. But I also understand that the context of Stack Exchange is not geared to this, specifically. Would it be worthwhile (for us) to ask students to provide some context if they chose to post here, such as their age bracket? I know I read a "silly" question on Stack Overflow from an identified struggling high school student differently than from someone I perceive to be a professional web developer.</p>
<p>I also fully accept and agree with the necessity to close and down-vote bad questions for the good of <strong>this</strong> community (which is essentially why I'm asking).</p>
<p>If relevant, we provide VEX-based base kits to student teams, and a few motors, but they are not limited to that. For example, some have interconnected Arduino boards and sensors to automate some tasks.</p>
<p>NOTE: I have <a href="https://electronics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/3379/appropriate-to-send-high-school-students-from-a-robotics-competition-here">posted a similar question to Electonics.SE Meta</a>, as they are closely linked themes, but distinct communities.</p>
| Appropriate to send high school students from a robotics competition here? | |discussion| |
<h1>Final Results</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/2365/covariance-matrix-in-ekf">covariance matrix in EKF?</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 1</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/2476/benefits-of-the-number-of-propellers">Benefits of the Number of Propellers</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 1</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/2326/problem-with-simulated-sensor-in-matlab">problem with simulated sensor in Matlab?</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 1</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 0, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/2357/cons-and-pros-of-wireless-technologies-for-rescue-robot">Cons and pros of wireless technologies for rescue robot</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 1</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 0, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/2453/quadrocopter-first-build-how-to-tell-if-components-play-well-together">Quadrocopter first build: how to tell if components play well together?</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 0</strong> (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/2396/generic-name-for-two-motor-wheeled-tracked-robots">Generic name for two-motor wheeled/tracked robots?</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: -1</strong> (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 1)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/2418/quadcopter-props-wood-vs-plastic-vs-carbon-fiber">Quadcopter Props? Wood vs Plastic vs Carbon Fiber</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: -1</strong> (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 1)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/2424/android-phone-adk-arducopter-apm-2-5-for-autonomous-quadcopter">Android phone + ADK + Arducopter APM 2.5 for autonomous quadcopter</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: -1</strong> (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 1)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/2421/just-run-program-on-nxt-not-download">Just run program on NXT, not download?</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: -1</strong> (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 0, Needs Improvement: 1)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/2433/what-is-minimum-torque-required-for-cnc-stepper-motors-and-spindle-for-aluminium">What is minimum torque required for CNC stepper motors and spindle for aluminium milling?</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: -1</strong> (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 0, Needs Improvement: 1)</p>
<hr />
| 239 | 2014-03-17T03:01:09.740 | <p>We all love <a href="http://robotics.stackexchange.com">Robotics Stack Exchange</a>, but there is a whole world of people out there who need answers to their questions and don't even know that this site exists. When they arrive from Google, what will their first impression be? Let's try to look at this site through the eyes of someone who's never seen it before, and see how we stack up against the rest of the 'Net.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/review/site-eval">Site Self-Evaluation review queue</a> is open and populated with 10 questions that were asked and answered in the last quarter.
Run a few Google searches to see how easy they are to find and compare the answers we have with the information available on other sites.</p>
<p>Rating the questions is only a part of the puzzle, though. Do you see a pattern of questions that should have been closed but are not? Questions or answers that could use an edit? Anything that's going really well? <strong>Post an answer below to share your thoughts</strong> and discuss these questions and the site's health with your fellow users!</p>
| Let's get critical: Mar 2014 Site Self-Evaluation | |discussion|site-evaluation| |
<p>Generally speaking tags are created as the need for them is identified.</p>
<p>If you link to some questions which would benefit from the tag, I would be happy to create the tag and tag those questions with it.</p>
| 242 | 2014-06-26T20:06:17.263 | <p>I have noticed that there is no tag for data association which is considered as a central point in localization and slam problems.</p>
| Data association no tag why? | |discussion|status-completed| |
<h1>Final Results</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/4318/cascading-pid-dc-motor-position-velocity-controllers">Cascading PID DC Motor Position & Velocity Controllers</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 2</strong> (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 0, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/4393/is-a-genetic-alogorithm-suitable-for-mobile-robot-path-planning">Is a Genetic alogorithm suitable for mobile robot path planning?</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 1</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/4266/are-stereo-camera-calibration-data-standardized">Are stereo camera calibration data standardized?</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 1</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/4296/calculate-object-distance-with-camera">Calculate object distance with camera</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 1</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/4277/what-is-the-difference-between-screw-and-wrench-in-rigid-body-motion">What is the difference between screw and wrench in rigid body motion?</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 0</strong> (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/4399/what-laser-power-for-cutting-and-engraving-wood-and-acrylic-robot-baseplates">What laser power for cutting and engraving wood and Acrylic robot baseplates?</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 0</strong> (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 2, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/4287/kalman-filter-issue-gps-odometry-fusion">Kalman filter Issue - GPS Odometry Fusion</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 0</strong> (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/4326/is-there-a-rule-of-thumb-for-actuator-torque-overhead">Is there a rule of thumb for actuator torque overhead?</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 0</strong> (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/4307/stepper-does-not-turn">Stepper does not turn</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: -1</strong> (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 1)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/4362/mechanical-or-electrical-engineering-for-robotic-and-automation">Mechanical or electrical engineering for robotic and automation?</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: -2</strong> (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 0, Needs Improvement: 2)</p>
<hr />
| 244 | 2014-09-13T03:01:19.260 | <p>We all love <a href="http://robotics.stackexchange.com">Robotics Stack Exchange</a>, but there is a whole world of people out there who need answers to their questions and don't even know that this site exists. When they arrive from Google, what will their first impression be? Let's try to look at this site through the eyes of someone who's never seen it before, and see how we stack up against the rest of the 'Net.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/review/site-eval">Site Self-Evaluation review queue</a> is open and populated with 10 questions that were asked and answered in the last quarter.
Run a few Google searches to see how easy they are to find and compare the answers we have with the information available on other sites.</p>
<p>Rating the questions is only a part of the puzzle, though. Do you see a pattern of questions that should have been closed but are not? Questions or answers that could use an edit? Anything that's going really well? <strong>Post an answer below to share your thoughts</strong> and discuss these questions and the site's health with your fellow users!</p>
| Let's get critical: Sep 2014 Site Self-Evaluation | |discussion|site-evaluation| |
<p>Generally, sites with the beta theme get their initials in a cartoon question bubble. The primary reason is that we create several sites a month so we need an easy-to-produce design icon consistent with the beta theme and the other sites on the network. If you look through <a href="http://stackexchange.com/sites#questionsperday">the list of sites</a>, you'll notice the occasional beta favicon that's not in the Latin alphabet. (By my reckoning, that includes Anime, Arduino, Aviation, Chess, LEGO® Answers, Poker, and Puzzling??) But all those symbols are Unicode glyphs.</p>
<p>As pointed out <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/246/can-we-get-an-icon#comment1286_247">in the comments</a>, <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/246/can-we-get-an-icon#comment1286_247">Craft CMS</a> has a custom icon. (That's not without <a href="https://craftcms.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/23/current-favicon-looks-like-flag-of-turkey">trouble of its own</a>, however.) To give you the back story, shortly before private beta, <a href="http://pixelandtonic.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">the company behind Craft CMS</a> contacted us with a complete set of icons which they graciously gave us permission to use. It wasn't really a partnership since we hadn't heard from (or, in my case, of) the company before the proposal was submitted to Area 51. We didn't go asking for it. We also would not have considered using the icon if it were not the logo of the product that makes up 100% of the topic space of the site.</p>
<p>If you found a Unicode glyph that unambiguously expressed "Robotics", we would consider changing your favicon. But I think your efforts would be better rewarded if you focused on increasing participation on the site. Name and icon changes have historically made little measurable impact on the <a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/40020/robotics">activity on a site</a>. We are still trying to figure out what can be done to propel a site from a solid, but slow beta to graduation. One thing I'd like to suggest is a <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/240634/how-do-weekly-topic-challenges-work">weekly topic challenge</a>. </p>
| 246 | 2014-10-20T13:40:43.287 | <p>I think R.SE is almost 2 years old now and doing pretty good. Isn't it time to give our site a nice icon? I know we are still in beta, but I think it will help make the site feel more complete and polished.</p>
<p>I vote for a simple robot arm icon like danijar showed in this post: <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/8/what-should-the-theme-and-layout-look-like/206#206">What should the theme and layout look like?</a></p>
| Can we get an icon? | |discussion|feature-request|status-deferred| |
<p>Tags tend to be generated as an when they are needed, but without tags existing in the first place it can be difficult to get them to arrive spontaneously, so suggestions are always welcome.</p>
<p>As we are in Beta, you <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/create-tags">only need 150 reputation to create a tag</a> when creating a question, and you <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/edit">only need 1000 reputation to edit a question</a> and add a tag.</p>
<p>As such, if you see a question which could benefit from better tags, feel free to add them. If you also fancy adding a tag wiki entry for the tag, even better.</p>
<p>If you are planning a wholesale re-tagging exercise, it would probably be a good idea to seek consensus from the community through meta first, but <em>Robotics</em> is created by the community for the community, and anything which makes the community stronger is a good thing in my eyes.</p>
| 1254 | 2015-01-13T14:31:22.317 | <p>Recently, i have found a bunch of people asking about how to build something in hardware, (for example: <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/6356/how-do-i-achieve-this-grid-of-dowels-powered-by-piston-like-movement">1</a>, <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/6331/passing-power-through-a-motor">2</a>, <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/5292/lifting-robot-to-lift-small-creates">3</a>), and don't seem to be able to find an appropriate tag for it. I think we need a new tag like: "construction", "building", "mechanics", or "linkage". Additionally, we definitely need "hydraulics", and "pneumatics". The only hardware tags that we currently have that come close are: "Mechanism", "Chassis", "Platform", and "Frame". Of these, mechanism is probably the best, but i think there can still be lots of "how to build this" type questions that "mechanism" isn't a great fit for.</p>
| More Hardware Tags? | |feature-request|tags| |
<h1>Final Results</h1>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/6418/tracking-landspeed-underwater">Tracking Landspeed Underwater</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 2</strong> (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 0, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/6430/how-does-a-two-gear-pull-back-car-toy-work">How does a two-gear pull-back car toy work?</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 2</strong> (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 0, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/6447/role-of-chi2-in-slam-back-end-optimization">role of chi2 in SLAM back-end optimization</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 2</strong> (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 0, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/6500/dh-matrix-to-homogeneous-transformation-matrix-for-each-joint">DH Matrix to homogeneous transformation matrix for each joint</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 2</strong> (Excellent: 2, Satisfactory: 0, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/6445/ways-of-reversing-motor-direction-easily">Ways of reversing motor direction easily</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 1</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/6446/how-do-you-design-quadcopter-pid-algorithm">How do you design Quadcopter PID algorithm?</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 1</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/6541/beaglebone-pru-questions">BeagleBone - PRU questions</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 1</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/6508/low-power-computer-for-stereo-vision">Low power computer for stereo vision</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 0</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 1)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/6437/how-to-provide-power-to-a-robot-raspberry-pi">How to provide power to a robot/raspberry pi?</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 0</strong> (Excellent: 1, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 1)</p>
<hr />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/6355/dealing-with-position-inaccuracy-and-latency-in-pid-loop">Dealing with position inaccuracy and latency in PID Loop</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Net Score: 0</strong> (Excellent: 0, Satisfactory: 1, Needs Improvement: 0)</p>
<hr />
| 1259 | 2015-03-13T03:00:53.820 | <p>We all love <a href="http://robotics.stackexchange.com">Robotics Stack Exchange</a>, but there is a whole world of people out there who need answers to their questions and don't even know that this site exists. When they arrive from Google, what will their first impression be? Let's try to look at this site through the eyes of someone who's never seen it before, and see how we stack up against the rest of the 'Net.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/review/site-eval">Site Self-Evaluation review queue</a> is open and populated with 10 questions that were asked and answered in the last quarter.
Run a few Google searches to see how easy they are to find and compare the answers we have with the information available on other sites.</p>
<p>Rating the questions is only a part of the puzzle, though. Do you see a pattern of questions that should have been closed but are not? Questions or answers that could use an edit? Anything that's going really well? <strong>Post an answer below to share your thoughts</strong> and discuss these questions and the site's health with your fellow users!</p>
| Let's get critical: Mar 2015 Site Self-Evaluation | |discussion|site-evaluation| |
<p>Thanks Ben, I have created tag synonyms for:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/atmega" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'atmega'" rel="tag">atmega</a> > <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/avr" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'avr'" rel="tag">avr</a></li>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/batteries" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'batteries'" rel="tag">batteries</a> > <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/battery" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'battery'" rel="tag">battery</a></li>
<li><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/map" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'map'" rel="tag">map</a> > <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/mapping" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'mapping'" rel="tag">mapping</a></li>
</ul>
<p>The overlap between <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/wifi" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'wifi'" rel="tag">wifi</a> and <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/wireless" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'wireless'" rel="tag">wireless</a> is minimal, since not all <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/wireless" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'wireless'" rel="tag">wireless</a> communication is <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/wifi" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'wifi'" rel="tag">wifi</a>, and while all <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/atmega" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'atmega'" rel="tag">atmega</a> are <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/avr" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'avr'" rel="tag">avr</a>, not all <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/atmel" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'atmel'" rel="tag">atmel</a> are.</p>
| 1261 | 2015-04-17T17:31:01.617 | <p>Having just acquired enough reputation to suggest tag synonyms, I took a quick look through the list of tags. I was able to successfully suggest one new synonym, but was unable to do so for other pairs. Apparently, I haven't answered enough questions under these tags to qualify. I think these tag synonyms are pretty straightforward, so I thought I'd post them here so someone else can create them. </p>
<ul>
<li>battery = batteries</li>
<li>map = mapping</li>
<li>wifi = wireless</li>
<li>avr = atmega = atmel</li>
</ul>
<p>Thanks!</p>
| Suggested tag synonyms | |feature-request|status-completed|tag-synonyms| |
<p>Yes, it looks like you are doing the correct thing, but closure requires 5 close votes or one close vote from a diamond moderator.</p>
<p>Flags recommending closure cause the post to be added to the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/review/close">close review queue</a> though, rather than be sent to the moderator queue, since on most stack exchange sites, there are enough users with <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/close-questions">close privileges</a> to deal with closures without requiring moderator intervention.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, on a small site like <em>robotics</em> this is resulting in too few people seeing your recommendations.</p>
<p>The solution is for moderators such as myself to keep a closer eye on the review queues and not rely solely on the moderator queue.</p>
<p>Thanks for bring this to our attention Chuck.</p>
| 1267 | 2015-06-06T14:10:32.033 | <p>The way I read the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic">question guidelines</a>, I thought that all questions asked here should be about robotics and have one correct answer. Accordingly, I have been flagging every question that doesn't meet this thumb rule. </p>
<p>My issue is that I flag the question and it appears to me that nothing ever happens after that point, despite the fact that my profile states I have raised 12 helpful flags. I say it appears that nothing happens because I raise flags for questions to be closed, but it doesn't appear that any question I've ever flagged has been closed or put on hold. </p>
<p>Just as a prime, recent example, there was <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/7432/does-the-uncanny-valley-explain-eery-reaction-neurotypicals-have-with-aspies">this question about how "neurotypicals" perceive "Aspies" (author's words)</a>, which I flagged for closure and commented that the question would be better off in cognitive science. I didn't down vote it because it is a good question, it just doesn't belong here. </p>
<p>That said, someone else down voted it AND Mark Omo said he was flagging it for closure as well, but the question is STILL open. </p>
<p>So I guess my question is, how does a question get closed? I thought I was flagging a question for a moderator to review and maybe act on. Is this the case, or is there some threshold of closure flags required to close a question? </p>
| Am I flagging questions correctly? | |discussion|flagging| |
<p>Getting an Area 51 proposal into the Commitment Phase is difficult.</p>
<p>Getting a proposal from Commitment into private beta is very difficult.</p>
<p>Getting a private beta into public beta is incredibly difficult.</p>
<p>Getting a public beta to graduate is almost impossible if you are a niche site like <em>Robotics</em> (it looks like this site will be in <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/257614/138432">permanent beta</a> for instance).</p>
<p><em>Robotics</em> even had the advantage that it was originally part of <a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/2651/electrical-engineering">Electrical Engineering</a> and received a lot of support from that community when it was decided that they didn't want <em>Robotics</em> as part of their scope.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, proposals for the maker/3d printing/hackerspace community got into beta twice with <a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/22246">Personal Manufacturing</a> and my <a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/41850">Digital Fabrication</a> proposal, but both times had to be closed due to lack of activity.</p>
<p>For the moment, I would give the FIRST Robotics community the same advice that I've given the 3d printing community. Post your questions here with appropriate tags until you can get your own community off the ground. If a FIRST Robotics question about is appropriate for any stack exchange site, then it will most likely be appropriate here. If it isn't a good stack exchange question (because it is too broad, unclear or primarily opinion based) it wouldn't be appropriate in a <em>FIRST Robotics</em> stack exchange either.</p>
<p>Also, consider that the more people you bring to stack exchange in general, to get the feel for how it works, the more people will be attracted to your own proposal, and the more people you will have with 200+ reputation, able to help get <em>FIRST Robotics</em> off into beta.</p>
| 1271 | 2015-07-01T01:08:51.067 | <p>As a long-time user of SE sites, I'd like to ask a few questions to the members of robotics.SE. I am a huge part of working on a FIRST Robotics Competition (Including FRC, FTC, and FLL, <a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/87670/first-robotics?referrer=MBTLI4xE_Jf4eKpJpcRrJA2">link here</a>); how can I raise awareness? I know that fairly recently you guys graduated from beta, but how did you initially gain followers and committers to your proposal?</p>
<p>The main reason that I ask this is that FIRST Robotics is, in general, a site with a little bit of overlap with this one, though the current proposal is only focused towards FIRST-related portions of robotics. I've hit up Reddit and a few FIRST forums, but how can I attract more members? (Preferably ones with SE experience)</p>
| FIRST Robotics competiton proposal | |discussion|site-promotion| |
<p>As explained in <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/a/191/37">this answer</a> to <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/179">What should our list of close reasons look like?</a> the <em>Primarily Opinion based</em> close reason should be used for <em>shopping</em> questions.</p>
<p>We only have three close reasons, and the existing close reasons are all more important than an explicit <em>shopping recommendation</em> close reason.</p>
<p>Even so, I try to comment with the <em>Shopping questions</em> <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/a/177/37">Copy-pastable comment text</a> whenever I close one as <em>Primarily Opinion Based</em>. That way we get the best of both worlds (not using up a valuable off-topic close reason slot) and people get more direction than an uncommented on POB close.</p>
| 1276 | 2015-08-06T11:36:39.370 | <p>I've found that, on posts I vote to close, the top reason I vote to close is that they are shopping recommendation questions. There is no shopping recommendation pre-canned selection, though, so I usually wind up selecting "life questions" because I feel that the line "what project to start next" is most similar to "where can I buy X".</p>
<p>I think that a specific shopping recommendation tag would make it more clear that they are not allowed because it would show up in the admin tag when the question gets put on hold.</p>
| Shopping recommendation not listed as cause for closure | |feature-request|status-bydesign| |
<h3>Migrating to an arbitrary stack exchange site</h3>
<p>This is only an option for ♦ moderators, so instead of voting to close the question <sup>†</sup> you should flag it for moderator attention <sup>‡</sup> with a suggestion of where it should be migrated.</p>
<p>On established sites, migration paths are created to allow migration without moderator approval, but any migrations outside of those pathways still have to be handled by a moderator. The reason for this is because...</p>
<h3>This specific question</h3>
<p>This question would not be a good candidate for migration. We try not to migrate questions which would just be closed on the target site for another reason. In this case, it is a very broad question. It could be edited to be a more <em><a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/dont-ask">practical, answerable questions based on actual problems faced</a></em> but that may invalidate the existing answer, which is pretty good, given the limitations of the question.</p>
<p>If neither <a href="https://cs.stackexchange.com/">Computer Science</a> nor <a href="https://dsp.stackexchange.com/">Signal Processing</a> want this question, I'm happy for it to remain on <em>robitics</em>, since there are robotic applications of the answer to this question.</p>
<p>†<sub> <em>close > off-topic because... > This question belongs on another site in the Stack Exchange network</em></sub></p>
<p>‡<sub> <em>flag > in need of moderator intervention</em></sub></p>
| 1287 | 2015-08-20T19:16:02.477 | <p>I tried to vote to close <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/7910/how-can-i-recognize-animals-in-a-video-stream-or-static-images-with-opencv-or-ot">this question on image processing</a>, but when I clicked, "This question belongs on another site in the Stack Exchange network" the only option I could select was the Robotics Meta. It wasn't a question about Electronics, Arduino, or Raspberry Pi, so I didn't choose that option. </p>
<p>Is there a way to "write in" another site in the SE network? I would like to have redirected the OP to the computer science board but that wasn't an option. </p>
| Closing a question - only option for another site is Robotics Meta | |feature-request|support|status-bydesign| |
<p>Note quite,</p>
<p>If you look at all of the questions in the Unanswered questions tab, you will see that none of them have any <em>useful</em> answers.</p>
<p>By <em>useful</em>, I mean answers which have more "This answer is useful" votes than "This answer is not useful" votes. In other words, for a question to be considered answered, it must have at least one answer with a positive vote score.</p>
<p>Incidentally, I have pretty much given up taking any notice of the 'accepted answer' check mark. Quite often the asker of a question has no idea whether an answer actually answers their question. In my mind, votes are all that really count.</p>
| 1289 | 2015-09-10T18:42:38.757 | <p>What is SE's qualification for "unanswered"? Because many unanswered questions <em>do</em> actually have answers. I am guessing that by unanswered, they really mean unaccepted. meaning that the original asker never clicked the check mark to accept one of the answers as solving the problem. </p>
<p>It seems to me that the terminology is confusing. And focusing on the percentage of unaccepted answers is a little strange. It is almost like penalizing the answerers based on the behavior of the askers. because i think we get a lot of one-time-askers who either don't know that they need to accept an answer, or forget to log back in after a while because they don't get an email when someone comments or replies to their question. (why is that by the way?)</p>
| unanswered vs unaccepted | |discussion| |
<p>No site can control the content of links to external sites, and Stack exchange is no different.</p>
<p>If offensive content is on our site, the recommendation is to edit, flag or comment on it, depending on the severity. If offensive content is on another site, the best that we can do locally is remove the link (though without SE developer support it will still be in the history).</p>
<p>I think the solution used in this case was the best one though. A comment to bring it to the attention of the original poster, and for them to fix the problem at the remote site.</p>
| 1292 | 2016-01-03T17:22:58.463 | <p>The recently asked question <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/8787/best-power-solution-for-my-robot">Best power solution for my robot</a> includes a link for a video demonstrating the gait of the quadreped... all well and good. Unfortunately the title of the video leaves something to be desired.</p>
<p>What should be done in these sorts of cases? Delete the question, remove the link, or leave in place? I have left a comment for the OP, requesting that he change the title of the YouTube video, but it is out of SE's jurisdiction, so to speak. I have also flagged the question.</p>
<p>I don't want to sound puritanical, but the site is used by members of all ages.</p>
<h3>Update</h3>
<p>The title of the youtube video has now been changed, so this has, now, become a non-issue. However, what are the rules, should it happen again? I have read up on the "swearing" questions on Meta (<a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/79974/whats-the-so-policy-for-swearing?">1</a>, <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/22232/are-expletives-cursing-swear-words-or-vulgar-language-allowed-on-se-sites">2</a>, and <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/654/how-much-what-kind-of-cursing-can-people-get-away-with-on-so?">3</a>, etc., as well as these <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/help/behavior">behaviour guidelines</a>), but none seem to cover links to external inappropriate language.</p>
| Question that links to inappropriately named video | |discussion| |
<p>Since <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/">3dprinting stack exchange</a> is well into permenant beta now (like <em>robotics</em>) questions about 3d printing should generally be directed there.</p>
<p><s>When the last 3d printing proposal failed, I suggested that 3d printer questions would generally be welcomed here on <em>robotics</em> if there was no other stack exchange site which was more appropriate. If the current 3d printer site fails to get into public beta, I will do likewise.</p>
<p>Currently though, it is going well. It still has a way to go before it meets minimum standards for a public site, but we are hopeful.</p>
<p>Remember that even in private beta, existing private beta members can invite additional experts to join the private beta. So if you are a 3d printer expert who missed out on committing to the proposal before it went into private beta and would like to join, you just have to ask.</s></p>
<p>Otherwise, as <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/users/134/andrew">Andrew♦</a> said in his answer to <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/a/47/37">How do we address questions about related subject areas?</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>fundamentally, as long <strong>as it is on-topic here</strong>, no matter how on-topic it would be elsewhere, <strong>then here is fair enough</strong>.</p>
</blockquote>
| 1296 | 2016-01-16T11:12:48.283 | <p>With the dawn of <a href="https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/">https://3dprinting.stackexchange.com/</a>, I thought we should (re-)evaluate if questions about 3D printing are on topic here on robotics.SE.</p>
<p>I guess if the question is mostly about robotics and 3D printing happens to be the application, like in these examples:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>How do I calculate the inverse kinematics of a delta printer?</p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Large_delta-style_3D_printer.jpg" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/hiHh4.jpg" alt="enter image description here"></a></p></li>
<li><p>What PID settings will allow a smoother movement of this 3D printer axis?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>are on topic here, while questions that are mostly about 3D printing and only happen to be related to robotics do not belong here:</p>
<ol>
<li>In what orientation should I slice this holder for a robot arm servo?</li>
<li>How long will it take to print this robot arm?</li>
</ol>
| Are 3D printing questions on-topic? | |discussion|scope| |
<p>I myself encountered the same thing on SE Arduino, and asked about this on SE Meta, on Feb 18, see <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/275849/suggested-edits-review-queue-notifier-does-not-update-as-reviews-are-completed">Suggested edits review queue notifier does not update as reviews are completed</a>. However, after just trying to locate the question, so that I could point you towards it, in a comment, it unfortunately appears that my question has been deleted. So I have reproduced it below.</p>
<p>As the two links to the previous SE Meta questions in my question show, it seems that it is a known bug, for a few years now, but, unfortunately, it has/will not get fixed.</p>
<p><a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/users/215590/polygeo">PolyGeo</a> left the comment:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Have you considered placing a bounty on one or both of the questions you linked to here to help draw attention to them?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>However, I don't feel that I have enough reputation, yet, on SE Meta to start splashing out Reputation points in bounties...</p>
<p>So, for the moment, the solution appears to be, as Mark says, to hit the refresh button.</p>
<hr />
<h3>Title</h3>
<p>Suggested edits review queue notifier does not update as reviews are completed</p>
<h3>Body</h3>
<p>This question is probably a duplicate of <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/218431/items-to-review-counter-on-the-top-bar-does-not-update">Items to review counter on the top bar does not update</a>, but seeing as it has been two years sine it was asked, I wondered if thinking has changed, or the technology used has changed, to make this easier to achieve?</p>
<p>The other day, I started reviewing suggested edits (there were eleven of them). I got through about five, or so, of them, and then noticed that it still said 11. This unsettled me somewhat, as I presumed that someone was just editing as fast as I was reviewing:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/xqFmG.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/xqFmG.png" alt="Eleven suggested edits" /></a></p>
<p>As a sanity check, I opened a new tab to SE Arduino, and that one showed, at the same time, that, in fact, that there were only 5 suggested edits remaining:</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Drzdf.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/Drzdf.png" alt="Five suggested edits" /></a>.</p>
<p>So... should the number not (actively) decrease as each review is completed (without having to manually refresh the page), to give an accurate representation of the length of the queue (and to save the sanity of the reviewers)?</p>
<hr />
<p>I know that it is bad form to post two queries in one, but it is <em>sort of</em> related... the issue of <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/231953/the-suggested-edits-flag-does-not-auto-update">The "Suggested Edits" flag does not auto-update</a> is still present, and I have noticed it on Arduino SE. Again it has been two years (almost) since that question was posted, and it was never answered, so... what was the outcome of that issue?</p>
<p>I can make this second part a separate question if need be.</p>
| 1304 | 2016-02-11T18:19:34.647 | <p>My review queue on the site toolbar typically has some number. When I got access to my first moderation tool, I thought that this was the number of items in the review queue, but it was never consistent and frequently showed some number even if I had zero items to review. </p>
<p>I recently got access to the last moderation tool, and I figured I'd try to take a more active stance in participating in site moderation, but my queue is still reporting a non-zero number. </p>
<p>My question: Is there somewhere else I need to be checking for reviewing items, or is this a bug? </p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/rg5w7.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/rg5w7.png" alt="Review Queue"></a></p>
| Phantom Review Queue | |support|moderators|moderation| |
<h1>Summary:</h1>
<ul>
<li><p>Leaving poor questions from new users open creates too much risk that they will set a poor example for other new users (see <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory" rel="nofollow noreferrer">broken window theory</a>).</p></li>
<li><p>There are not enough active community members with <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/close-questions">close privileges</a> to leave questions to be community moderated.</p></li>
<li><p>Moderators are always willing to re-open questions which have been improved, so if you see a question which you think should be re-opened, either vote to re-open if you can, or flag it for moderator attention if you can't.</p></li>
<li><p>For the good of the site as a whole though, moderators also want to know about poor quality questions, so if you see a question which you think should be closed, either vote to close if you can, or flag it for moderator attention if you can't.</p></li>
</ul>
| 1315 | 2016-07-21T13:30:38.560 | <p>I see a number of questions (<a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/10313/design-of-scara-joint-problem">https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/10313/design-of-scara-joint-problem</a>) where a combination of english as a second language and a question from a user new to the stackexchange world (<a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/users/14287/alaa-momen">https://robotics.stackexchange.com/users/14287/alaa-momen</a>) causes the question to be put on hold rather quickly.</p>
<p>Some of these people might have contributed to robotics.stackexchange in the future had they not been turned away so quickly.</p>
<p>Robotics straddles a lot of disciplines. It can be difficult to articulate a question well when you are asking about an area you are weak in, more so in a second language.</p>
<p>Does it really hurt the site if you leave the vague questions open for a couple weeks; give them a chance to be clarified? Give the new community members a chance to participate and learn?</p>
<p>For the question above, the user does not have the experience to know that the kickstarter project they saw was clearly created by amateurs and might not be a good one use as an example; but on the other hand it's clear that they are looking for a low cost joint design that would work for hobby type maker machines with SCARA kinematics. As far as questions about mechanism design go, that's not too bad for someone that's not a mechanical engineer. A small amount of shepherding could turn this into an interesting question and hopefully a couple good answers.</p>
<p>This question is just one example of the broader issue though. </p>
<p>What happens if you aren't so quick to put questions on hold?</p>
<p>Here's a vague question that could have been closed as too broad, but in the end was nicely illustrated. <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/150/preventing-leaks-in-motor-shafts-for-underwater-bots">Preventing leaks in motor shafts for underwater bots</a></p>
<p>Here's a shopping questions that should have been closed but apparently is one of the best robotics.stackexchange has to offer given the upvotes and views. <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/25/how-to-choose-the-right-propeller-motor-combination-for-a-quadcopter">How to choose the right propeller/motor combination for a quadcopter?</a></p>
<p>My main point is that I think that putting questions on hold as quickly as you do hurts the growth of the site. Sometimes the only way to clarify a question in a topic as broad as robotics is to propose an answer and then refine both the question and answers iteratively. </p>
| Should we be so quick to put questions on hold? | |discussion| |
<p>On the <a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/93481/artificial-intelligence">Artificial Intelligence Area 51 Site</a>, scroll down to where it lists the "Top Beta Users". Just above that is a link that says, "Visit the Site Now." This appears to be the only way to get to the site. </p>
| 1320 | 2016-08-10T09:21:45.310 | <p>After previous <a href="http://blog.stackoverflow.com/2010/12/no-artificial-intelligence-in-area-51/">failures</a>, the AI site has its probably last chance to join to SE network. This is very related to robotics, since robot is a container for AI, so I believe a lot of people here have been using AI.</p>
<p>We need your help, since the site is struggling to find its own distinct and unique scope.</p>
<p>Please join: <a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/93481/artificial-intelligence/visit">http://ai.stackexchange.com</a> (to access go <a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/93481/artificial-intelligence">HERE</a> and click the Visit link)</p>
| Artificial Intelligence beta has started | |discussion| |
<p>A question asking for a paper reference for solving a problem would be off topic for reasons <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/a/1323/37">mentioned by Chuck</a>, but a question primarily asking to solve a problem, and requesting citations for papers as a secondary aspect would be perfectly reasonable in my opinion.</p>
<p>As long as the problem can be solved by an answer here (i.e. it's not so broad that a book would have to be written on the subject) then it would be considered on-topic.</p>
| 1322 | 2016-08-19T15:53:56.233 | <p>Is it okay to ask for a journal paper solving a specific problem? Right now I'm researching quadrotor landings and am having trouble finding a paper on quadrotors landing on platforms where the attitude of the platform is oscillating. If I get my hands on a paper addressing this problem I should be able to look at citations and pull the thread to find the most current work. </p>
<p>However, if this problem has not been addressed, there is not a way for me to know that this paper doesn't exist. </p>
<p>Are posts specifically looking for answers in the form of a journal paper appropriate? </p>
| is asking for a conference paper appropriate? | |discussion|asking-questions| |
<p>I'll chime in that I generally view "robotics" as a holistic term, referring to <em>systems</em> as opposed to <em>components</em>. For example, if you want to "learn robotics," you should study mechanical, electrical, electronic, and software engineering.</p>
<p>In that spirit, questions that I consider <em>most appropriate</em> are the questions that span two or more of those categories and also the questions that fall in one category but whose answers apply to a second. </p>
<p>Examples would be help doing a drive cycle analysis (mechanical) to spec a motor (electrical), or troubleshooting an implementation of an algorithm (software) to achieve a desired control scheme (mechanical/electrical). </p>
<p>The first example requires knowledge of performing a drive cycle analysis <em>and</em> how those results impact motor selection (peak power, average load, duty cycle, etc.) You would otherwise you would have to ask how to perform the drive cycle analysis to get that curve, then ask on another site how to use that curve to pick a motor. The second example requires the person answering to have some understanding of the control scheme to find the flaw in the implementation. </p>
<p>The <em>lesser appropriate</em> questions, again in my opinion, are the ones that stick strictly to one category. Examples would be my Arduino code won't compile (strictly software), my motor doesn't turn when I apply voltage (strictly electrical), how do I specify the size of a structural arm for a robot (strictly mechanical).</p>
<p>Here the problems are syntax, voltage/wiring problems, and structural analysis. They can all be answered on one site <em>without needing to ask related questions based on the answer of the original question</em>. Those questions are fully self-contained in one category. They are not, in my opinion, <em>robotics</em> questions. </p>
<p>Those lesser appropriate questions, while debatable as on-topic or not, could get <em>better</em> answers, and get those better answers <em>faster</em>, if they were asked on the appropriate site (Arduino.SE, Electronic.SE, or Engineering.SE, respectively). </p>
<p>There was a <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1315/9720">meta post</a> a while ago asking if we (probably directed at me) should be so quick to close questions that are debatable as off-topic. I took this to heart and decided to allow the questions to remain longer, and now make a genuine effort to wait until there are at least a couple close votes from the community before I close a question. </p>
<p>That said, I still always try to act to the benefit of the OP. I migrate a question not to get rid of it here, but because I think OP maybe didn't realize that they could get better answers, and faster, at a different site. </p>
<p>So, <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1327/is-there-a-need-for-industrial-automation-se#comment1370_1328">50k4 mentioned</a> PLC programming questions in Stack Overflow as an example of questions that "don't receive much attention there." </p>
<p>A glance at the most recent 100 questions tagged "PLC" at SO (<a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/plc?page=1&sort=newest&pagesize=50">page 1</a> <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/plc?page=2&sort=newest&pagesize=50">page 2</a>) shows that 35 of those 100 have an accepted answer. </p>
<p>In comparison, there is <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/plc">one</a> question at Robotics.SE that is tagged with PLC, and it does not have an accepted answer. </p>
<p>I manually calculated the average number of views per question on SO on the 100 most recent; it's 135 views per question on average. The one question on Robotics that is tagged PLC has 138 views. </p>
<p>Now, <em>here's the real difference</em> - the question on Robotics, having no question, has been bumped occasionally by Community since it was asked, in December of 2014. The oldest question of the 100 most recent on SO was asked in November of <strong>2015</strong>. The Robotics question is almost a full year older than any of the ones from SO, but still has approximately the same number of views. </p>
<p>My point is that it might <em>feel</em> like the questions on SO are getting low views, and it <em>might actually be</em> getting low views <em>for that site</em>, but the traffic to Robotics is a rounding error for the traffic to SO. Robotics got <a href="https://www.quantcast.com/robotics.stackexchange.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">47k visitors last month</a>; SO got <a href="https://www.quantcast.com/stackoverflow.com" rel="nofollow noreferrer">48M</a>. </p>
<p>Now, none of this is against the idea of having <em>industrial automation</em> questions here. That's a terrific idea and I'm 100% in support of it. What I would be reluctant to do is to say that we should create a site that supports a bunch of questions that are <em>more</em> appropriate for other sites. </p>
<p>Using Robotics as an example, there are some questions that <em>transcend</em> any one particular category. These are the questions that Robotics was made for. There's not a huge demand for really good questions, and as @MarkBooth mentioned we'll probably never leave Beta, but that's okay. There will still be questions that are <em>related</em> to electronics and mechanics that are beyond the scope of either of those sites individually.</p>
<p>My challenge to you would be to come up with a set of questions that <em>transcends</em> what is currently available. When you write a question, ask yourself what body of knowledge is required to answer the question. If the question only requires the person answering to be knowledgeable in one field (PLC programming OR HMI programming OR network interfacing OR finance, etc.) then I would argue it's not worth creating an entirely new site for. Ask those questions at the corresponding sites and get good answers fast. </p>
<p>I took a look the sample questions, and I'll critique them here:</p>
<h2>Better Questions:</h2>
<ol>
<li><em>Is a DNC system worth it if the machine controllers run Windows XP or higher?</em> This requires a knowledge of DNC systems and how they are implemented <strong>AND</strong> a knowledge of business finance to determine how the costs are amortized.</li>
<li><em>When is it safe to use an Arduino on equipment over an Industrial PLC?</em> This requires knowledge of Arduino capabilities <strong>AND</strong> industrial security/software standards and best practices. </li>
<li><em>Is it bad practice or unsafe to run a file watcher, console program on a machine controller to grab info from G-Code output?</em> This requires knowledge of file watchers <strong>AND</strong> the G-code to machine process. </li>
<li><em>Is there a better way to send measurement data to a CNC than automatically writing a G-Code program to set the global variables?</em> This requires knowledge of G-code programming <strong>AND</strong> CNC data protocols. </li>
</ol>
<h2>Lesser Questions:</h2>
<ol>
<li><em>How could I reuse the PLC code (structured text) I wrote for a Siemens PLC in a Rockwell project?</em> Requires knowledge of Siemens and Rockwell programming, but it's all within the field of programming knowledge.</li>
<li><em>How to properly dimension a PMSM motor and a drive amplifier for a specific task? What input is required and what is the workflow for dimensioning?</em> Requires knowledge of industrial drive specification, but it's all within that field. </li>
<li><em>How to calculate Return on Investment on a system that completely takes over a given process?</em> Requires finance knowledge, but it's all within that field. </li>
<li><em>How do I calculate a modbus checksum to append to a manually created modbus message in a Magelis panel that is sent to the com port?</em> Requires modbus knowledge (or really even just checksum knowledge). The source and destination are irrelevant.</li>
</ol>
<h2>Poor Questions (in my opinion)</h2>
<ol>
<li><em>For a GE Machine Edition PLC project are there any tools that can identify coils or registers that are read from but not written to?</em> Shopping question - tools that exist now may not exist in the future, and vice-versa. </li>
<li><em>Are there any cross platform HMI's that could run the same project on (for example) Windows or Linux?</em> Shopping question.</li>
<li><em>Are there any open source SCADA systems, or at least HMIs? What communication protocols do they support?</em> Shopping question. </li>
</ol>
<p>Each of these questions ask "Are there any?" I could say yes or no and be done with the question. I could give list A,B,C and someone else could give list X,Y,Z and both lists could be completely accurate. Who has the right answer?</p>
<p>I feel like I'm rambling a bit, so I'll just end the post here, with one last thought:</p>
<p>Am I looking for content <strong>that can't be found anywhere else on StackExchange?</strong> Those are the questions that should be examples, and the reason you're starting the site.</p>
| 1327 | 2016-10-11T08:55:41.303 | <p>Since ther is currently no place (other then this, when it is robotics relates) to ask industrial automation related questions (PLC programming, Motors and drives, HMIs Control systems etc.) I started an SE proposal. </p>
<p>Feel free to support the proposal if you see the need for it. </p>
<p><a href="http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/93147/industrial-automation">http://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/93147/industrial-automation</a></p>
| Is there a need for Industrial Automation SE? | |discussion| |
<p>I have just switched the "Code Language (used for syntax highlighting)" option on the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/ros" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'ros'" rel="tag">ros</a> tag from <code><none></code> to <code>default</code>, so syntax highlighting is now activated on the question mentioned.</p>
<p>I have just gone through all tags with more than 5 questions, picked out tags which I think might benefit from a code language being set, and updated them as follows:</p>
<ul>
<li><code>default</code>: <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/algorithm" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'algorithm'" rel="tag">algorithm</a> <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/arduino" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'arduino'" rel="tag">arduino</a> <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/computer-vision" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'computer-vision'" rel="tag">computer-vision</a> <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/pid" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'pid'" rel="tag">pid</a> <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/software" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'software'" rel="tag">software</a></li>
<li><code>lang-c</code>: <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/c" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'c'" rel="tag">c</a> <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/robotc" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'robotc'" rel="tag">robotc</a></li>
<li><code>lang-cpp</code>: <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/c%2b%2b" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'c++'" rel="tag">c++</a></li>
<li><code>lang-matlab</code>: <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/matlab" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'matlab'" rel="tag">matlab</a></li>
<li><code>lang-py</code>: <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/python" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'python'" rel="tag">python</a></li>
</ul>
<p>Any suggestions for changes to other tags would be more than welcome.</p>
<h1>See <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1334/37">Suggestions for changes to the code language of tags</a>.</h1>
| 1331 | 2016-11-12T09:52:18.617 | <p>As far as I have noticed, the site does not have any syntax highlighting capability.</p>
<p>The following annotation <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/10964/how-to-convert-this-arduino-code-snippet-to-avr-gcc/10965#10965">does not work</a>:</p>
<pre><code><!-- language: c-->
</code></pre>
<p>and the programming language tags do not add syntax highlight either.</p>
<p>As a significant part of the questions include some kind of code snippet, I think it would be a useful feature on this site as well. In my opinion, it would slightly improve the question quality.</p>
| Discussion about the necessity of syntax highlight | |discussion|feature-request|status-completed|formatting| |
<p>From the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/servos" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'servos'" rel="tag">servos</a> info page: <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/tags/servos/info">https://robotics.stackexchange.com/tags/servos/info</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>Most <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/servos" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'servos'" rel="tag">servos</a> questions should fall into the subcategories of either industrial <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/servomotor" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'servomotor'" rel="tag">servomotor</a> or <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/rcservo" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'rcservo'" rel="tag">rcservo</a> (with the synonym <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/hobbyservo" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'hobbyservo'" rel="tag">hobbyservo</a>). Only questions which do not fall into these two sub-categories should use this tag.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>To summarise this taxonomy of tags:</p>
<ul>
<li>57 <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/servos" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'servos'" rel="tag">servos</a> questions, last in January 2017</li>
<li>42 <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/rcservo" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'rcservo'" rel="tag">rcservo</a> questions, last in October 2016</li>
<li>59 <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/servomotor" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'servomotor'" rel="tag">servomotor</a> questions, 5 asked so far this month</li>
</ul>
<p>Part of the point of the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/servos" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'servos'" rel="tag">servos</a> tag is to help identify questions which haven't been correctly tagged as either either <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/rcservo" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'rcservo'" rel="tag">rcservo</a> or <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/servomotor" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'servomotor'" rel="tag">servomotor</a>.</p>
<p>The idea was that if you see a question tagged with <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/servos" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'servos'" rel="tag">servos</a>, anyone could suggest an edit to the question to re-tag it with <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/rcservo" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'rcservo'" rel="tag">rcservo</a> or <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/servomotor" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'servomotor'" rel="tag">servomotor</a> as required. If it wasn't clear from the question whether it was referring to an <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/rcservo" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'rcservo'" rel="tag">rcservo</a> or a <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/servomotor" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'servomotor'" rel="tag">servomotor</a>, then this could be clarified and then properly tagged.</p>
<p>There was a time when I would go through <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/servos" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'servos'" rel="tag">servos</a> tagged questions myself doing this, but then the community started doing it, and I just had to approve the suggested edits.</p>
<p>Although it looks like a clean up may be required, I think the basic principle still stands and our current taxonomy is the correct solution top the problem of <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/servos" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'servos'" rel="tag">servos</a> questions being consistently being mis-tagged.</p>
<h2>2020 Update</h2>
<p>After making <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/hobbyservo" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'hobbyservo'" rel="tag">hobbyservo</a> and <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/digitalservo" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'digitalservo'" rel="tag">digitalservo</a> into synonyms of <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/rcservo" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'rcservo'" rel="tag">rcservo</a> and making <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/servos" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'servos'" rel="tag">servos</a> into a synonym of <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/otherservo" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'otherservo'" rel="tag">otherservo</a> the problem seems to have reduced substantially:</p>
<ul>
<li>70 <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/rcservo" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'rcservo'" rel="tag">rcservo</a> questions, up to Nov 29 '19</li>
<li>102 <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/servomotor" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'servomotor'" rel="tag">servomotor</a> questions, up to Dec 28 '19</li>
<li>33 <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/otherservos" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'otherservos'" rel="tag">otherservos</a> questions, up to Jun 9 '16</li>
</ul>
<p>There are still questions in <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/otherservos" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'otherservos'" rel="tag">otherservos</a> which would be better off tagged with either <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/rcservo" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'rcservo'" rel="tag">rcservo</a>, <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/servomotor" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'servomotor'" rel="tag">servomotor</a> or both, and there are still questions tagged as one which should be more accurately tagged as the other, so feel free to edit these tags (or suggest an edit) when you find them.</p>
| 1338 | 2017-03-09T15:24:35.520 | <p>4 years after the <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/170/what-should-we-do-about-servo-questions">last discussion</a> I can find on this topic it looks like after around 2014 the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/hobbyservo" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'hobbyservo'" rel="tag">hobbyservo</a> tag fell out of use and the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/servo" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'servo'" rel="tag">servo</a> tag has become a catch all, as it seems that the majority of questions have not been about industrial servos, I propose that we simple make hobby servo a synonym of servo, and in questions asking about industrial servos posters call that out explicity.</p>
<p>We might also change to using an <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/industrialservo" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'industrialservo'" rel="tag">industrialservo</a> tag for those requiring it because the large majority of beginners posting have no idea that what hey are using should be called a "hobby servo" as opposed to just a servo.</p>
| 4 years later on the servo vs hobby servo tags | |discussion|tags|tag-synonyms| |
<p>Graduation is no longer either required, or expected of small Stack Exchange sites, and as long as we are still an active community we are at no risk of being closed down. </p>
<p>It's been a few years since Stack Exchange woke up to the idea of <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/257614/graduation-site-closure-and-a-clearer-outlook-on-the-health-of-se-sites#comment840165_257614">perpetual beta</a> sites - small, niche sites, such as <em>Robotics</em>, which may never reach graduation criteria, but equally will never disappear.</p>
<p>In addition to <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/257614/138432">Graduation, site closure, and a clearer outlook on the health of SE sites</a> , see <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/257652/138432">Should we rename or remove the "beta" label?</a> for more information.</p>
<p>In the long term, I hope that perpetual beta sites will start to get <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/259143/138432">some of the benefits of graduated sites</a>, even if it isn't worth Stack Exchange spending time and development resources on a custom site design.</p>
<p>Also, consider this, we don't have a single 10k user right now. If we were to graduate today, the only people who would have access to moderator tools would be ♦ moderators. The problems are even worse further down the reputation scale, we only have 6 users with 3k or more reputation, who aren't already ♦ moderators, so only these 6 people would be able to cast ordinary close votes.</p>
<p>This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to graduating too soon. </p>
<p>For the moment, Robotics simply isn't a big enough site to qualify for graduation right now. If you want it to be, we need more questions, more answers, more votes, and these come from more active participants in the site. Growing our community is the only way gain the critical mass required to get to graduation.</p>
| 1354 | 2017-11-29T16:20:12.740 | <p>This is a question just because I am curious. I am following this SE site for a long time and I got the impression that is was in beta stage for a long time so I checked the Area 51. What I saw was that it is in beta for more that 5 years! How is that possible? Is there a timetable for the "graduation" of this community?</p>
| "Graduation" of this Community | |discussion|status-bydesign| |
<h2>Yes, we are now in perpetual beta.</h2>
<p>The fact that we haven't been closed down is pretty good evidence that we are now in perpetual beta.</p>
<p>Our stats suggest that we would have to grow substantially as a site in order to qualify for graduation, and given our niche appeal, I doubt that will happen. As the linked articles say though, graduation is neither expected not desired in every case.</p>
<p>Having said that, our stats are pretty good for a niche site. We are well up at the top of the bottom quartile of many stats, beating several graduated sites in some measures. Our %age answered is excellent, we have healthy number of visits per day, and a reasonable number of questions per day for a small site.</p>
<p>See the full <a href="https://stackexchange.com/sites">Stack exchange site stats</a> for more details.</p>
<p>As long as people are asking questions here, and we are answering them, we are in no danger of being closed down.</p>
<hr />
<p>If you are looking for an official answer from Stack Exchange, specific to our situation, then that's unlikely. Stack Exchange themselves only get involved when there are serious problems with a site, and thankfully we are not in that position. Other than appointing new protem moderators, the last time we had an intervention by a Stack Exchange employee on our site was in 2013, and this in itself is a good sign.</p>
<p>The closest thing I can find to an official statement of Stack Exchanges' position is in <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/310595/138432">this answer by Robert Cartaino♦</a> to <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/310590/138432">Notify user before closing a public beta site</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>We don't generally close sites for lack of question counts or traffic. Just about the only criteria we have to keep a site open is three people willing to step up and say, "yeah, we'll help watch over our site". See <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/263905">Site closure and the health of SE sites</a>.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This was re-iterated more recently in <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/a/311952/138432">this answer by Robert Cartaino♦</a> to <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/q/311950/138432">What is the usual process for closure of a site in public beta?</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>As discussed in: <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/257614">Graduation, site closure, and a clearer outlook on the health of SE sites</a>, just about the only criteria remaining to keep a site open is having enough users (three minimum) willing to step up to Moderate♦ it.</p>
<p>If a site is in decline and doesn't have enough users willing to take care of it, we will typically issue several calls (through a <a href="/questions/tagged/featured" class="post-tag moderator-tag" title="show questions tagged 'featured'" rel="tag">featured</a> meta post) to try and recruit more interest. Failing that, we will post a final site-closure notice announcing the closure date. This will appear as a 'system message' plastered across the top of every page on the site — all the time referring users back to a meta post where they can express interest in keeping it going.</p>
<p>I can't imagine a site going from functional to "final notice" in less than a month; more typically the effort would persist three to five months… or more.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Given these statements, and the fact that we have four moderators, three of whom are active most days, I don't see that we are in any danger of closure.</p>
| 1358 | 2018-07-09T18:45:43.053 | <p>In regards to <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1354/graduation-of-this-community">this question</a> and a <a href="https://meta.stackexchange.com/questions/257614/graduation-site-closure-and-a-clearer-outlook-on-the-health-of-se-sites#comment840165_257614">comment</a> made by a Stack Exchange Community Manager, perpetual betas exist in the Stack Exchange. Considering that we have been in beta for <a href="https://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/40020/robotics">five years</a>, is there a way that we can confirm whether or not we are classified as a perpetual beta?</p>
| Are we a perpetual beta? | |discussion| |
<p>I think we are way past the need for <em>Seeding</em>. As the term is normally used, it is primarily about getting a site ready for the transition from <em>private</em> to <em>public</em> beta, which as you say was over five years ago.</p>
<p>Having said that, there has never been anything wrong with asking and answering a question yourself, especially if you know other people would find the answers useful.</p>
<p>As long a question is <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic">on-topic</a> for <em>Robotics</em>, it is welcome here. Plus, who knows someone else might be able to provide a better answer than your own, and then you've learnt something too. *8')</p>
<p>At this point in the <em>Robotics</em> site lifecycle, scope is defined more than anything else by the corpus of questions already on our site, which is why repairing <a href="https://blog.codinghorror.com/the-broken-window-theory/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">broken windows</a> is important. Every off-topic question is an invitation for another off-topic question to be asked.</p>
<p>So one way to help our community grow is to help keep the quality of our site high, and keep an eye out for low quality content so that it can be removed or fixed.</p>
<p>Anyone with <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/close-questions">cast close and reopen votes privilege</a> can directly contribute to defining the edges of our site scope, and you really don't need much reputation to <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/flag-posts">flag posts</a> and contribute indirectly.</p>
| 1360 | 2018-07-18T21:11:15.330 | <p>The activity in this community seems to have plateaued somewhat since its start <a href="https://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/40020/robotics">five years ago</a>. <a href="https://math.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/251/what-is-a-seeded-question">Seeding</a> this site at this stage may initially appear odd, but it could stimulate growth, define the edges of <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1356/topic-scope-of-robotics">what this site's topics are</a>, and answer some common questions with a sense of generality in mind. This may help drive more people to this community (although I do see the number of users increasing by a few every day). </p>
<p>Questions:</p>
<blockquote>
<ol>
<li>Are my assumptions on seeding the site unreasonable?</li>
<li>Is there a problem with seeding <em>any</em> site?</li>
<li>Is there a problem with seeding <em>this</em> site at this stage?</li>
</ol>
</blockquote>
<p>Bonus Question:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If seeding the site is acceptable, how do we decide what topics to target?</p>
</blockquote>
| Should we seed this community to boost activity? | |discussion| |
<p>This situation is similar to what we did with the iRobot Create. (We direct users with questions to this site). Although when Robotics.StackExchange started the Create was already a fairly established hobby robot.</p>
<p>I would suggest that you have a group of robotics engineers at your company start participating on this site. (Ask questions, answer questions, make edits, etc.) And not just on questions related to your products. Your increased reputation can only help, and it will help make you not a spammer.</p>
| 1363 | 2018-07-25T00:26:09.333 | <p>My company (<a href="https://www.makewonder.com/" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Wonder Workshop</a>) would like to direct hobbyists, students, and educators to discuss the more technical aspects of our robots here at robotics.stackexchange.com . And specifically we'd like to encourage them to use the tag "wonderworkshop" to improve the signal in the discussion.
Unfortunately nobody at the company has sufficient reputation to create new tags, so I come begging.</p>
| New tag request: "wonderworkshop" | |feature-request|tags| |
<p>We currently only have around 70 users who can have the 500 reputation to <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/close-questions">cast close votes</a>, but anyone with at least 15 reputation can <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/flag-posts">flag</a> questions to close.</p>
<p>As <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1367/37">Chuck♦ says</a> we can easily see questions which have at least one close vote, and close flags are even more prominent, but down votes and comments on their own aren't as useful.</p>
<p>The sooner we can fix <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory" rel="nofollow noreferrer">broken windows</a>, the less of a problem they can become.</p>
<p>So, here's what you can do to help:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>If you have <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/close-questions">close-questions privilege</a> (500 rep in beta)</p>
<ul>
<li>Keep an eye out for questions which aren't on-topic, and vote to close them.</li>
<li>Suggest ways that an off-topic post could be edited to become on-topic. I use a <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/a/177/37">variety of templates</a> to help with this task, but as always you should be careful to adhere to our <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/conduct">code of conduct</a>.</li>
<li>Keep an eye out for closed questions which have been edited to become on-topic, and vote to re-open them.</li>
<li>Take a look at the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/review">review queues</a> and vote to close or re-open as appropriate.</li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>If you have <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/comment">comment everywhere privilege</a> (50 rep in beta)</p>
<ul>
<li>Keep an eye out for questions which aren't on-topic, and flag them as "should be closed...".</li>
<li>Suggest ways that an off-topic post could be improved so that it is on-topic. I use a <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/a/177/37">variety of templates</a> to help with this task, but as always you should be careful to adhere to our <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/conduct">code of conduct</a>.</li>
</ul></li>
<li><p>If you have <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/flag-posts">flag-posts privilege</a> (15 rep in beta)</p>
<ul>
<li>Keep an eye out for questions which aren't on-topic, and flag them as "should be closed...".</li>
</ul></li>
</ul>
<p>All of these will help keep <em>Robotics</em> ticking along nicely, encourage good questions, and reduce the burden of off-topic questions.</p>
| 1367 | 2018-11-02T16:10:22.463 | <p>First, I want to thank all the site regulars; the community wouldn't exist without you. </p>
<p>I was appointed pro-tem moderator about 2.5 years ago now. At the time, I wanted to "lead the charge" on closing what I had felt were low-quality questions. I think most people reading this will know what I'm talking about: open-ended design questions, homework questions, questions without diagrams or supporting information, questions that could be solved by looking up the error messages, etc.</p>
<p>Fairly soon after, there was a <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/q/1315/9720">Meta post here</a> asking if we should be so quick to close questions. Hauptmech brought up some great points about some poorly asked questions that had received some great answers in the past and had <a href="https://robotics.meta.stackexchange.com/questions/1315/should-we-be-so-quick-to-put-questions-on-hold#comment1344_1316">then stated</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>I'm asking if it might be better for the moderators to let the community self regulate a bit more before they step in. To let questions that look a bit unclear or too much like opinion or shopping questions, have a chance to improve before they get put on hold.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I took the advice to heart and have been trying to hold back on anything I thought could be ambiguous. I try now to leave messages to the OP asking for clarification, etc., and then leave the feedback for a few days before coming back to close the question. </p>
<p>Lately, my personal work schedule has been busy enough that I can't be around as much as I'd like. I still check the page daily, but I don't have time to comb through all the questions. </p>
<p><em>This is where I need you</em>.</p>
<p>I've noticed, lately especially, that questions seem to be getting downvoted. Everyone's doing a great job leaving the OP feedback, but sometimes close votes aren't being cast with (or instead of) the down votes. </p>
<p>If I pop in for a few minutes, I have a moderator queue that will show me a list of the questions that have received downvotes. This helps me tremendously by paring the entire site down to just the problem questions - then I can go through that short list and help moderate. </p>
<p>As it stands, with just downvotes, it's hard to see which questions are in need of moderation. I worry that this makes it easier for me to fail to spot problem questions, which can lead to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broken_windows_theory" rel="nofollow noreferrer">broken windows</a>, encouraging more users to ask poor questions. </p>
<p>Additionally, when I do find a question that needs to be closed, it looks like I'm the only person closing the question if nobody else has cast a vote. While this is true, I would appreciate "community backup" by demonstrating that we <em>as a community</em> feel a particular question is off-topic.</p>
<p>Again, everyone's doing a great job now leaving reasons why a question may be closed, or how it could be improved, etc., but please remember to also cast a close vote if you can. This gets the question in the moderator queue and helps us, as a community, present a united front when a question is closed. </p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>~Chuck</p>
| Reminder - Please vote to close questions you think don't belong! | |discussion|vote-to-close|closed-questions| |
<p>Good eye! This changed <a href="https://meta.stackoverflow.com/questions/346604/why-is-the-community-user-so-determined-to-bump-this-question/378736#378736">on around January 8th</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>I've added a change here so that the community user can't rebump a question unless the original bump is more than 90 days in the past.</p>
<p>The problem here was caused back in 2011 when the bumps were weighted a little more towards questions that had been already been viewed. The outcome all this time later was that more bumps got more views got more bumps got more views and so forth.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>If you <a href="https://data.stackexchange.com/robotics/query/977886" rel="nofollow noreferrer">look at the data on which questions were bumped here over the past 365 days</a>, an awful lot seem to have been bumped once every month. The reason is, a question must not have had any activity in the last 30 days to qualify for bumping - and bumping modifies the last activity date. So the most-eligible question at any given moment would tend to be the one that was most eligible precisely one month ago... And again, and again, and again.</p>
<p>Now, questions have to wait a solid 4 months (120 days) after being bumped before they can be bumped again, <em>unless</em> some other form of activity (new answer, edit, etc.) occurs on them in the interim. This should provide a bit more variety in what gets bumped, although it will also tend to reduce the pool for eligible questions.</p>
| 1374 | 2019-02-07T21:47:59.980 | <p>We normally see a few new questions per day, and then of those we normally only get what I would call "good" questions maybe 2-3 times per week.</p>
<p>The thing that had kept the site seeming more fresh than that was the Community Bot, which would bump older questions to the top. This would typically happen for maybe 5-7 or so questions per day.</p>
<p>Lately, though, it seems like we don't get bumps like we used to. I've noticed that since about mid-January the bumps have almost completely stopped. The site looks much slower now. If you look at the site analytics, you can see that question and answer posting is on a sharp decline; questions and answers now are about a third of what they were 3 or 4 weeks ago. All of this despite the fact that traffic seems to be about the same.</p>
<p>My big fear is that declining question volume is driving the declining answer volume, and the overall decline in participation is going to start driving traffic away (or failing to attract or retain regular visitors).</p>
<p>Who controls the Community Bot? Was there a change made to the Community Bot? Is there a setting that we, the moderators of that site, can adjust?</p>
| Was there a change to the Community Bot that stops it from bumping questions? | |support| |
<p>I agree with my fellow mods. If the question is otherwise on-topic for <em>robotics</em> then it's fine. As we say in <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic">What topics can I ask about here?</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>if your question <strong>generally</strong> covers …</p>
<ul>
<li>a specific robotics design problem</li>
<li>the theory and simulation of robotic systems</li>
<li>a sensor for a robotic system</li>
<li>the writing algorithms for robotic systems</li>
</ul>
<p>… then you’re in the right place to ask your question!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>(emphasis mine)</p>
<p>As an example, questions about getting to the venue, who will be exhibiting, how much local hotels cost etc. would all be off topic. Questions about how to solve a problem related to competition rules would be fine. Questions about the rules themselves would probably not be on-topic, depending on precisely what you need to know.</p>
<p>As it is, I would suggest that you post your question, and we can work out whether we think it's a good fit for <em>robotics</em> and whether we are happy for more questions like it in the future. That's how the scope of a stack exchange site is expanded or restricted.</p>
<p>In any case, you are always welcome to pop over to <a href="https://chat.stackexchange.com/rooms/6221/asimovs-corner">Asimov's Corner</a> since you have <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/privileges/chat">chat privileges</a>.</p>
| 1379 | 2019-05-03T15:49:30.823 | <p>I have a question about <a href="https://www.robotevents.com/robot-competitions/vex-robotics-competition/RE-VRC-18-6083.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Vex Worlds 2019</a> that I would like to ask on Robotics.SE. It's not really related to robot hardware or software, but about a robotics competition.</p>
<p>I've looked at <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/tour">https://robotics.stackexchange.com/tour</a>, <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic">https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/on-topic</a>, and <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/dont-ask">https://robotics.stackexchange.com/help/dont-ask</a>, but none of them mentioned robotics competitions.</p>
<p>Are these types of questions okay to ask, or are they considered off-topic?</p>
| Are questions about robotics competitions on-topic? | |discussion|scope| |
<p>Thanks for bringing this up.</p>
<p>I've now retagged all <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/arm" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'arm'" rel="tag">arm</a> tagged posts relating to arm processors as <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/arm-cpu" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'arm-cpu'" rel="tag">arm-cpu</a>, added <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/arm" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'arm'" rel="tag">arm</a> as a tag synonym for <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/robotic-arm" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'robotic-arm'" rel="tag">robotic-arm</a> and merged the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/arm" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'arm'" rel="tag">arm</a> into the <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/robotic-arm" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'robotic-arm'" rel="tag">robotic-arm</a> tag, so now whenever anyone tries to add <code>arm</code> as a tag it will default to <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/robotic-arm" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'robotic-arm'" rel="tag">robotic-arm</a> but mention that <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/questions/tagged/arm-cpu" class="post-tag" title="show questions tagged 'arm-cpu'" rel="tag">arm-cpu</a> is also available.</p>
| 1384 | 2019-07-19T09:16:06.697 | <p>The overwhelming majority of the questions tagged as "arm" are about robotic arms. Some of them are about the ARM CPU, which is the abbreviation of "Acorn RISC Machine".</p>
<p>My suggestion would be, following <a href="https://robotics.stackexchange.com/review/suggested-edits/172">Shog</a>, to do this simple differentiation also in the tagging.</p>
<p>I suggest to use the new tag "arm-cpu" for the questions about the CPU.</p>
| Retag suggestion: robotic arms vs. arm CPUs | |discussion|status-completed|tags| |
<p>I think it is just because <em>Robotics</em> doesn't get that many questions. With only 2.1 questions per day according to Area51 (<a href="https://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/40020/robotics">https://area51.stackexchange.com/proposals/40020/robotics</a>), our few moderators can keep up. I don't know how many questions the "real" <em>Stack Exchange</em> site gets, but I'm sure it's a lot more.</p>
| 1388 | 2019-10-26T13:21:31.623 | <p>The review queue is a filter, which shows a list of questions with a certain criteria. The idea is not to show the entire list of questions, but only these which are flagged by a group member for later review. A look into the close-view queue have shown, that it's empty. That means, there are no questions which can be closed. Is this a malfunction or is it normal?</p>
<p><a href="https://i.stack.imgur.com/gMdx3.png" rel="nofollow noreferrer"><img src="https://i.stack.imgur.com/gMdx3.png" alt="enter image description here"></a></p>
| Why is the review queue empty? | |discussion|flagging| |
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