Quote:
Originally Posted by Matt Krass
I know you already got your answer, but this is something that seems to be very common lately, and I wanted to call attention to it.
It's kind of frustrating to see posts in the form of "I know this is against the rules, but can I do it anyway?". It's frustrating to everyone who has to answer and tell you "no, you can't do it" and I'd bet it's frustrating to you because I don't think you meant to ask that question.
To me, it seemed more like you wanted to know if you could achieve your goal while still being in compliance of the rules, in which case you should explain what you're trying to do, which rule(s) you think you're in conflict of, ask for confirmation and for suggestions how else to solve your problem. I think that will be much more happily received around here, and it's good practice, since you'll need to use the same technique to deal with your future bosses 
Just wanted to call attention to this and see if we can improve, I'm not calling you out all on your lonesome.
Matt |
Time to argue and then finally agree with you Matt, since that's what we do best.
The rule restricting wireless in the pits has existed since before FIRST used the 2.4GHz spectrum for robots. It existed way back in the day when we used DB15 connectors for joysticks and radios operated on 900MHz. Back when the old radios were used and wireless connections weren't a huge feature for scoring, regionals had a bit more leeway in determining minutiae, and you probably could get away with a wireless network or two.
Nowadays, rogue wireless signals wreak havoc on the field equipment, to the point several competitions this year have had to contact the school they were hosting the regional and demand they turn off all wireless internet near the competition site (IIRC, there were something on the order of 60-80 wireless networks being broadcast at the FL regional alone before we had everything turned off).
To sum it up: let the robots work, don't use wireless.