Our team had six old robots donated to us from our sponsor, they were from a team that had disbanded (211-MAK), and were from 1999-2005. As some of you may know, the indicator lights back then were rotating emergency lights. Switching from red alliance to blue was as easy as pulling the plastic cover off the light and putting it on another.
For whatever reason, that method was discontinued in favor of making two sets of bumpers.
I propose that we go back to making one set of bumpers, that can be made in any color, as long as the numbers are visible to to a reasonable astute observer. For differentiating between alliances, an LED strip could be mounted, such as
http://www.parts-express.com/pe/show...number=073-079
The strip could be mounted to the bumpers, or somewhere else on the exterior of the robot at or near bumper height, so that it would be visible to all sides.
- It would take little effort to switch between red and blue.
- A team could build one set of "show" bumpers
- Bumpers could be mounted more securely than if they need to be removed and replaced quickly
Thoughts?