I thought of an interesting "loophole" in the rules...
A remote like the Logitech Harmony series allows you to program some of the buttons on the computer. Now, the GDC wants you to have 1 button push correspond to one action, with a max of 4, and they don't want you to encode longer messages by pushing multiple buttons, which rules out the idea someone had of using encoded messages to help stave off interference from other teams.
But what if you programmed a remote to send multiple number messages for each push? You only use 4 buttons, and those 4 buttons only activate 4 activities on the robot. each single button press leads to one action on the robot. But you're sending a string of signals with each press to avoid interference with other robocoaches.
From update 3, this may be allowed (i think we'll draft a question to the GDC about it, so i'm not really looking for approval here, just opinions):
Quote:
The RoboCoach may use up to four different buttons on the TV remote to transmit
up to four different messages to the Robot. To transmit “message #1” she would
press Button #1, to transmit “message #2” she would press Button #2, etc. Only
four buttons are available for use in this manner. All other buttons or combination of
buttons should be ignored by the Robot. Pressing multiple buttons simultaneously,
or in a sequence, also should not result in a valid message recognized by the
Robot.
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So one button push transmits one message, and multiple button pushes don't encode other messages... I don't know, what do you guys think? Am i going out on a limb here?