Re: Use of radios for communication
 

I dont want to derail the thread but,

Since practice bots provide a significant, undeniable advantage, shouldn't they be banned by the same logic, as part of "Leveling the playing field"?

-Puts on suit of armor and runs away- :D

Edit- To clarify, I mean practice bots overall, not bringing them to competition, Im fully aware the are illegal in the pits.

Re: Use of radios for communication
 

Regional Director or FTA would work. They then get the "fun" of telling the team to put the radios away.

Re: Use of radios for communication
 

If you want to still use PTT method, Voxer is a good app. Uses Data on your cellphone. I use it when I wanna have a short conversation beyond texting but without calling. There is also bluetooth integration as well.

Warnings:

Careful about when you use it. If you are using it for stand to field comms in alliance selection, possibly legal. During match play at a off-season event, one team communicating from stands to field non-electronically was given a yellow card. So be smart on that front. Read the manual and ask the staff at your event before you use it. When it comes to bluetooth earsets, I encourage teams to take them out if they're on the field.

The app can eat battery power. Between that and my FRC Spyder App, my battery hated me by noon. Also the default ringtone is extremely quiet. That makes it hard to hear.

GroupMe is also a very good app for getting quick info and requests in between stands and pit, especially if whoever you want to contact doesn't immediately have their phone out - someone always does and is able to relay the information. It isn't voice, though, only text, but proved very useful this season nonetheless.

Re: Use of radios for communication
 

Unfortunately, this is SO true.

Re: Use of radios for communication
 

It is illegal to bring a practice robot to a regional competition.

Re: Use of radios for communication
 

Let's take advantage of this phenomenon!
Mic->Rasberry Pi->Pirate Radio on a US FM band (Repeat for each person)

People only need an FM radio to tune in- Outreach! Just leave a station near the doors outside and set the RasPi FM band to NPR or something- nothing can go wrong!

(Bonus: I'm pretty sure it even violates FCC rules, so you can can get the opportunity to enlighten lots of important people about FIRST)

Re: Use of radios for communication
 

On the topic of pigeons, I have yet to find any rule banning them from use on a FRC robot.

I am still waiting for this concept to be transferred to robots. A pigeon can identify a red ball, right? that is all you need (well, a blue ball pecking pigeon as well)

Re: Use of radios for communication
 

If you see a team using radios to communicate, go to the Regional Director or Event Coordinator (In Districts, there is no RD to speak of, but there are local event leads). It is (as has been outlined already) against the "At the Event" rules (Section 4 of the manual) and it's on the event to speak to the team and inform them of said rule violation.

Re: Use of radios for communication
 

R34 disallows pigeons on the ROBOT, as it a non-electrical source of energy that is not one of the 3 allowed (compressed air, change in CoG, deformation of robot parts).

Re: Use of radios for communication
 

Also, I'd like to (and I think Big Al would like to as well) meet an inspector who thinks a pigeon is safe under R8.

Re: Use of radios for communication
 

I was thinking it was more likely to come under the "contaminating the field" rules. In Chicago there is a local ordinace to prevent feeding the pigeons.

Re: Use of radios for communication
 

They don't operate on even remotely the same frequency. There would be little to no interference between the WiFi that the robots use (I believe they operate on the 5Ghz channel) and the frequency that any cell phone would use over its cellular connection that can range anywhere from 700-800Mhz, to as high as 1700Mhz or even 2100Mhz - all depending on your carrier.

This if of course, assuming proper shielding was used in the cell phones and hotspots to reduce RF leakage.

Re: Use of radios for communication
 

Sorry, Solid, That is not the way interference works. The third harmonic of 1700 MHz is right in the band. All it needs is a non-linear mixer and voila, interference. Loose aluminum hardware makes a great non-linear mixer. High power RF mixing in the input to a receiver can also produce the same effect. 800 + 2*2100 also comes out on a frequency that can interfere.

Re: Use of radios for communication
 

*nods*

Good to know.