Quote:
Originally Posted by Travis Hoffman
Don't thank me; thank our Ohio friends the Mavericks of 2252. I believe they are actively uploading full field Crossroads match videos to YouTube as we speak. Seems like it will take them a few days.
https://www.youtube.com/user/MavericksTeam2252
So the pedestal lights upon an end cycle confirmation, and it turns off following the initial possession entry for the next cycle. Can ANYONE give me any justification whatsoever for that blasted light to not be controlled locally by a "pedestal ref" holding a toggle switch hooked to a power supply, lol. Please don't tell me the light inside is donated and has to be controlled by Ethernet I/O or some such nonsense.
You can get rid of all delays related to the pedestal and the field by severing the lighting completely from the cycle process. Pedestal ref turns it on when the ball is through the goal (presume lights on the opposite scoring goal turn off once the end cycle is confirmed - PRETTY OBVIOUS SIGNAL TO TURN THE PEDESTAL ON). Turn it off once the HP inbounds and the first possession/assist light turns on. Note any early pickup infractions and communicate to nearest foul-calling ref. It's not like they'll be busy doing anything else for a bit once the HP picks the ball up....
You will have pedestal lighting times of sub 1-second if you simply have humans do it and make it the only thing they have to track during the match. [More gameplay. Less blar.] <-- Spotlight worthy, no? Make it happen, people. :-P
Young Gregor tells me some refs forget to hit the END CYCLE button. Why not make the screen or the button flash like a Japanese anime or something to prompt them to do it? I know those PanelViews have such object flash capabilities built in.
Thank you to actual referees for detailing this process - I think full exposure is helping drive further discussion. |
I will say that the lights in general seem to have some lag (i've seen several instances/videos of light lag especially in auto). If you were relying on the lights over the goal going off, which are controlled by the same "end cycle" button, i'm not sure if that really solves the issue.
At the event i was at we ended up adding a manual redundant system to make sure the pedestals were working properly. The ref would put their flag up horizontal and wave it once they pushed the end cycle button. There was a dedicated field reset person there watching specifically for the Ref to make this signal. If the pedestal did not light they volunteer would give the team the go ahead to take the ball (I don't think we had any more pedestal issues once we started doing that).
From my experience when properly working, the pedestal lit up in 1-2 sec after hitting the end cycle button.