Now that FIRST is providing a small electronic device to count laps to each robot as they go on the field, this doesn't seem as much of a stretch as it used to...
What about a solid-state video camera that teams put on their robot when they go on the field? It could be as simple as turning the flag into a square-shafted object for anti torque and just putting the camera up there with the lap marker.
The camera probably couldn't be hurt very easily... I envision a (up to) 1/4" thick lexan box with the wireless camera inside, all solid state so it can withstand the G's of falling off a robot/getting run into and over. The whole module probably could be just a little larger than the lap indicator as
CCD cameras really aren't that big anymore, and with new
pocket rocket DSP processors for cellphones these days even doing
digital video transmission could fit in a 1.5x1.5" board.
This should still be able to run off the +5 pin of the processor, but if it cant, you could put a couple
supercapacitors in it and charge them inductively between matches to eliminate all external connections.
In car cameras anyone?
-q