[DarkWombat]

Hmm...well our team planned to get an aluminum hood that would cover the electronics and protect them during operation. However, the hood will be hinged on the side so that it can be easily opened up to access the electronics. So does this mean that we'll have to cut a slot open in the hood so that the LED's will be visible while we're competing? I'm getting mixed answers from this thread, I understand that we'll have to have the electronics ACCESSABLE, but do we also need to have the LED's visible so that they can be seen from a distance while the robot is in use (competing on the playing field)? Because I don't think that'd matter much, since if the LED's WERE visible you wouldn't be able to discern from twenty feet which LED was correpsonding a certain problem anyways.

So I guess the question is: can we use a protective shielding/hood to protect the electronics during operation, but which can also be easily removed to access the electronics componenets for inspection and while in the pit area?