Re: Bring Back the Rotating Light
 

You hit the nails on the head(s).

Re: Bring Back the Rotating Light
 

i think we brought the rotating light to a whole new level

Re: Bring Back the Rotating Light
 

I beieve that know matter what happens there will always be some sort of light on the robot. This light ensures the ref's and yourself that your robot is powered up and on the right team. Though the rotating lights did break in the 2003 season (my rookie year) I sort of liked them better. This year FIRST only supplied teams with one L.E.D. If FIRST is going to keep the L.E.D's then they should ensure that all teams have an L.E.D on all four sides of there machine. OR they should bring back the rotating light. To solve the issue of weight, when you get weighed in they should subtract the exact amount of weight for the LIGHT. not including wireing. (even the light weight L.E.D.'s had wires.)

Re: Bring Back the Rotating Light
 

I found an old LED from last year so I had two to mount on the robot. One on each side of our bin, high up. I think the hight and the fact that there was two of them helped a lot to tell whether or not the robot was powered up, what mode it was in, and which alliance it was on. Sometimes it was hard to see the LED on other robots, although I didn't see any that had negelected it entirely, some of them were hidden well!
The flags worked well, but there was an issue with them coming out when robots were tipped, and I did see one instance where a poof ball from a shooter hit the top of the flag and sucked it right out of the holder.

-Chris

Re: Bring Back the Rotating Light
 

Yeah on a lot of the robots from 3 years ago, with the rotating light they looked extremely cool

The Good Things about the lights
- They worked and you didn't have to worry about the connectors falling off the RC
The Bad Things about the lights
- They did use alot of energy and in a game like this years the battery would be completely dead.
- They had their share of weight and location issues.

The Good Things about the LEDs
- They too also work and last alot longer then a standard light bulb
- They help identify certain issues with the robot (mainly hardware or software) if they are mounted were they can be easliy seen
- They're virtually weightless
The Bad Things about the LEDs
- They too also have location issues
- There is no way to fasten them to the RC whatsoever so that the connectors don't come off if a robot went head on with a wall or another robot.

I don't like the flags all that much makes the robots look alot less serious. Yeah they help with identifying the teams but only if the team remembers to put them on their robot. They can become a flying projectile, they can break extremely easliy if not mounted the right way. There's just to much problems with having a flag on the robot, and it can confuse the driver as to where the robots position is on the field. At least with light covers & LEDs they didn't waive in the wind or obstruct anothers view.

Too Solve the LED wiring issue if you cut the wires for the leds to the size you need it and resolder the wires you'll be okay but always leave like 3 inches on the connector end and take what off what you don't need from the LED end and mate the pieces together simple 1-2-3 =) and it looks better too.

Heres an Idea: If FIRST set some guidlines that the light can be powered off of its own source but must remain in the electrical circuit and it would not be counted towards the weight & that a mandatory LED must be attached to the robot & clearly visible so that IFI can identify problems with your robot before / during / after a match , would you the teams take the light back. Theres just one catch Teams cannot abuse the amount of wire used. I see alot of teams that have nice looking robots and nicely mounted electronics but a ball of yarn underneath everything in hiding. Use only What you need and dispose of the rest, You'll save the little bit of weight that matters the most that way. Wire doesn't way much but will help in getting rid of that couple of ounces rather then swiss cheesing (Drilling) the chassis which should always be a last resort. And it will make everything look so much more neater and accessible.

Re: Bring Back the Rotating Light
 

Here are some LED light assemblies that scream "danger, I'm tough".

http://www.galls.com/style.html?asso...og&style=GR030

Maybe next year. I agree that I like lights better than flags. The other "small" issue with flags this year is that they're popping-out of the PVC pipes as robots get hit hard and become nuisance items on the playing field. Plus lights are easier to see who's in the backfield, not fromthe judging perspective, but from a fan's perspective sitting in the "nose bleed" seats in the Georgia Dome.

Re: Bring Back the Rotating Light
 

uhmmmm.... what?! the page in your link has Halogen lamp warning lights - $45 each.

Halogen LEDs?! did I miss a breakthrough in displays? :^)

Re: Bring Back the Rotating Light
 

I agree. Those lights owned. I think one of the reasons they got rid of them in the first place is so teams don't have to worry about what alliance they are going to be on. That's why the crew has them and gives them out while the teams que for their match like this year.

Re: Bring Back the Rotating Light
 

I found these items that maybe a better solution for FRC in the future-

LED clusters and LED light bulbs. All use 12vdc.
The 3 inch cluster only draw 220ma; but kind of expensive at $181 a piece.

The colors available are white, red, green, blue and amber.
:)

Re: Bring Back the Rotating Light
 

I have to admit, I was overjoyed to read the flag rule this year. Last year I was a rookie, so I can't speak about the old rotating lights (although I have tapes of old matches), but those LEDs were darn near impossible to see. The way I see it there are four problems: the blink time is too long, they are too small (for visibility), they aren't bright enough, and they aren't eye catching. The blink time is just a programming thing and could be easily changed (I think). The next two issues can be solved by upgrading the LED. However the last one is hard, and is a fault with the flags too. If a robot goes haywire in auto and comes charging at you, are you going to notice something with little blinkers on it or a flag? Definatly not, it needs power. The rotating lights are better in this respect but they are a bit bulky. So, I'm going to go with the independent unit that can be quickly mounted, not included in the wieght limit, and self powered, as well as a diagnostic LED. It just seems to solve the most of the problems with either system. (Assuming the lights aren't huge)

Re: Bring Back the Rotating Light
 

LEDs are pretty cheap, so you could probably build your own with a couple resistors for a few bucks. Is there something special about these clusters that makes them a $181?

Re: Bring Back the Rotating Light
 

LEDs can get very expensive very fast, when you are talking about the superbright ones. About 50 cents each maybe. Say you want a square that is 10 led's on an edge (maybe about 2", so they are fairly tightly packed). Filled, that is 100 LEDs and $50.

Re: Bring Back the Rotating Light
 

Right now we have 1 superbright. I think that about 9 more and the brightness would be quite workable.

I vote for an improved LED cluster.

I think strobing robots would be destracting

Re: Bring Back the Rotating Light
 

That happened on Long Island in one of the many final matches I do believe.

I think that the LEDs are useful but we need more of them, at least one for each side. At one point during SBPLI, I couldn't see from the stands that the LED was on (Neither could anyone on my Team) so we obviously thought it wasn't. I ran down onto the field shouting "Don't start the match; 871 isn't on!" It caused a little disruption, but as it turned out we were on, the light just wasn't visible. We didn't want to mess up match 33 take 3.

Re: Bring Back the Rotating Light
 

Just as a thought, why not bring back the rotating light, but protect the thing better?

Bring back the light, but then also provide a metal grate to protect it from most whacks. If you need to change the cover for the next match, just unbolt the grate and bolt it back before the match.

Visible, pretty durable, and surely not too expensive if you're getting a couple thousand made at a go. (FIRST has had parts made expressly for itself in the past, after all--tetra clovers, anyone?)