Quote:
Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery
You can step forward as soon as the autonomous clock hits 0. You don't have to wait for any audible cue.
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And this is important, because not only does (or should) the clock happen first, a failure of the audible cues does not historically constitute a field fault. You lose some time waiting for a sound anyway, but I've seen people lose far more than a second waiting for a belated audible even though the clock is seconds ahead. (Historically, it's also been technically possible to get a foul for responding a sound that happens early while the auton clock is still running, though I've never seen this happen--and I'm not sure I'd foul it if it's reasonable.)
Waiting for any audible is generally a poor move in FRC. As a coach, my eye is on the clock and my hands on my drivers' shoulders in the last few seconds auton. I physically cue them forward. They usually don't need it as they're also trained to eye the clock, but if something weird is going on in auto they may still be watching the robots. We'll also have just discussed the first few seconds of teleop by then, which saves even more time. It's the only part of the match where you basically have a freeze frame you can stop and talk about.