Quote:
Originally Posted by hrench
I'd like to go on record as a vote in favor of "Robot".
You know those beepers on the back of trucks when they back up? They're a safety item. They're to get attention. They're required by law and they save lives.
Sure, yelling "Robot" isn't saving lives, but the purpose of it is to make people aware that a big thing is coming through and they have to move. Most of those people's attention is focused elsewhere when the 'bot comes by.
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And the beepers are NEVER on when the truck is moving forwards. Imagine for a few minutes that every beeper on every truck starts up whenever it's in a drive gear, reverse, forwards, whatever.
How fast do you think you'd start ignoring them?
Right. The point of the beepers is to inform people that a truck is moving in reverse
and that the driver probably can't see behind him very well because the truck body is blocking his view, thus they NEED to know so they can get out of the way. When the same truck is in forwards, the driver can see what's in front of him, and the driver has responsibility to avoid anything in the way.
The shouts of robot are: The truck using its beeper when in a drive gear, accompanied by every car on the road in some cases. VERY annoying, and if used too much, VERY ignored. That's why we want to reduce the use as much as possible. Can it be effective? Yes--in the right situation. Are there better ways? YES. Like having one of your 4-person drive team going in front of the robot to clear a path.
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Past teams:
2003-2007: FRC0330 BeachBots
2008: FRC1135 Shmoebotics
2012: FRC4046 Schroedinger's Dragons
"Rockets are tricky..."--Elon Musk
