First person view systems
 

We here in placer county have a local rc vehicle genius by the name of Quincy. He has a first person view camera system, and he had the idea of attaching it to the bot and have him (or whoever wears the goggles) be the guidance system of the bot. We were simply wondering as to the legality of this action, and would like to point out that it's awesome

Re: First person view systems
 

Is FPV view legal? Yes, but there are some restrictions. Note that I do NOT say that this particular implementation would be legal per se--I'll hit that first, and then go into the alternative. I assume the device has its own headgear and what-not.

The first question that I have is: Does it use its own signal, or does it use whatever is normally carrying the signal as its conduit? If the former, see R52, and say "thanks, but no thanks for competition". If the latter, check R49B for bandwidth and R49A for ports. You might still end up not being allowed to use it.

The second question is: Does the headgear plug into something, or use wireless communication? If the former, be advised that you'll have to plug in after auto, per G20. If the former, you'll run into R84 and not be allowed to use it. (You'd also hit that if the device uses its own signal, as asked above.)

And finally, one other restriction that would be enforced. This device would, necessarily, be part of the Operator Console, which would require the Drivers or the Human Player to wear it per G32. If it's not part of the Operator Console, reference above rule notations as well as T21.


All that being said, however, you can still have an FPV option. It's called put a webcam on the robot and use either the driver's station screen or a second monitor (not explicitly disallowed, mind you) to display the camera feed. That one's been used for a while, at least by some teams, though latency has been an issue in the past.

Re: First person view systems
 

A second monitor is explicitly allowed by Q184

Re: First person view systems
 

A second monitor is legal--per Q&A. But there ARE rules that will constrain its use, thus making any random monitor not necessarily legal (or practical).

Size... and amperage. Can't be bigger than the allowed volume of the Operator Console (R93, vertical to whatever is above the field at the venue), and the combined current draw of all items plugged in to your station (via whatever splitters, etc.) has to be <=3A, or you'll be running on battery power and NOT able to get a Field Fault replay.

Oh, and you've got to get it to the field somehow, but that's an engineering problem, not a rules compliance one.

Re: First person view systems
 

I wouldn't consider video goggles to be a control device.

Re: First person view systems
 

I'm sure that many video goggles have accelerometers and gyroscopes. Those can be used to control (e.g. Tilt head left if hot target is left target, right if target is right)