Thread: Time to include communications at each driver station?
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Unread 26-12-2014, 12:15
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FRC #1718 (The Fighting Pi)
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Location: Armada, Michigan
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Time to include communications at each driver station?
In competitive online gaming, communications is paramount. As a tech oriented game, it seems like FRC is behind the curve when it comes to communication behind the driver station glass. We have Drive coaches that have to run between teams yelling, and driver teams that can't communicate with each other unless they take their eyes away from driving their robot.

I think we can look to the video gaming industry for a potential answer. What if we added some type of ventrilo / teamspeak or other servers to the field and give the laptops access to it through the driver station. Match it up with allowing bluetooth headsets that the team members can wear.

A lot of teams would probably look at it as a distraction, but it would be interesting to see if it would become useful over time and even more interesting what teams would do with it (voice controlled autonomous?).

Wireless communication with the human players could also unlock a new and interesting avenue.