I think there's several sources of conflicting information. Lets first start by looking at the relevant rules (from 2013, you will need to verify with the 2014 rules).
Quote:
R94
Other than the system provided by the ARENA, no other form of wireless communications shall be used to
communicate to, from, or within the OPERATOR CONSOLE.
Examples of prohibited wireless systems include, but are not limited to, active wireless
network cards and Bluetooth devices. For the case of FRC, a motion sensing input device
(e.g. Microsoft Kinect) is not considered wireless communication and is allowed.
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Bluetooth is illegal to use on the driver station, so make sure your driver station doesn't connect to your scouting system. However, this rule does not ban Bluetooth in general.
Quote:
T04 Teams are not allowed to set up their own 802.11a/b/g/n/ac (2.4GHz or 5GHz) wireless communication (e.g. access
points or ad-hoc networks) in the venue.
A wireless hot spot created by a cellular device would be considered an access point.
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Some people mistakenly believe that Bluetooth is part of 802.11. Bluetooth is 802.15, rather then 802.11, thus is not banned by that part of the rule. Other people believe that since Bluetooth uses 2.4 ghz, it is banned by the parenthetical. However, I (and most people) believe that the parenthetical provides clarification that both frequencies of 802.11 are banned, and not that 2.4ghz in general is banned.
The second issue is that there have been a few anecdotes of Bluetooth being disallowed in the middle of competition. On the other hand, there are many anecdotes of teams successfully using Bluetooth at competitions. One anecdote specifically mentioned possible interference with FTC at the championship. Considering that running a successful competition is more important then your team's scouting efforts, you should have a backup plan if there is interference and an event asks you to turn off bluetooth. In the past, where different venues have had different interpretations of rules, often asking a question in the Q/A will help to provide an consistent interpretation.
You may want to ask your
teammate why he thinks bluetooth is banned.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...1&postcount=15
Quote:
Originally Posted by jgustafson6156
Bluetooth isn't allowed at competitions ether.
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