So this weekend at the Niles regional competition, we had a few frustrating (to us in the stands) matches where our drivers cut themselves very short on time for the Co-op bridge and wound up missing the opportunity; despite having a substantial winning margin the guys kept scoring until 20-25seconds (or less, maybe)... at that point it occurred to me that, due to the setup of the field, it was difficult for them to see the score at all...
I realized that every competition there are different circumstances for being able to see the score, and it's not really a fairness problem, as everyone has to deal with it, but it can be a hindrance when it's difficult/inconvenient to get the scores. So now I want to fix the problem
To get to the point
, my two proposals:
The field management system could be modified to broadcast (and the driver's station could be modified to display) the score of each alliance, that way the drivers/coach can always see the score down on the PC.
Right above the match timer display (above the in-bounder station this year), another numeric display could be added showing a +/- point differential, this way you'll see what your score differential is whenever you check the time.
I though one or both of these would be really valuable to teams, especially since this year had a big focus on real time scoring (and I imagine FRC want's to continue this if they can), it would help teams in making quick strategic decisions (and prevent some the "OH MY GOD WHY AREN'T THEY GOING FOR THE BRIDGE" moments
)
What do you think, would this improve future games?