Quote:
Originally Posted by Karibou
I really hate to rain on parades and shut down ideas quickly, but the possibilities of a blind portion of a game are very slim to none. This idea comes up every year, and the main reasons why it probably won't happen (taking into account the multiple ways that the effect could be achieved, such as curtains over the driver station, over the field, etc.) are:
1. Safety. Safety safety safety. Two robots get entangled and nobody can see it? Sounds like a great way to pull some wires and create smoke (magic or otherwise). Blinding the drivers doesn't enable them to see their robot, so they couldn't see if anything were to begin malfunctioning.
2. Spectators. Probably close to 75% of the people at FIRST events are in the crowd. If they can't see part of the field, then they probably won't be too excited to watch the matches. Also, if the scouts couldn't see the robots, then they can't scout the robots for that portion, and that would be a HUGE blow to a lot of strategy teams.
I like the idea of a blind mode involving robots, but I just don't think that it's right for FIRST.
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I disagree with your assessments here and I'll answer each of your reasons:
1> Safety -- Just because the driver(s) cannot directly see does not mean that they cannot get information about the robots. Camera feedback and human players (looking around the curtain ... lets call them spotters) could easily give feedback to the drivers.
2> Spectators/crowds -- In most arenas the crowd sees from the side of the field, so you would lose less than 10% seating visibility. You could also tap into the teams video feed (if they have one ... it's IP is known) and feed that to the big board, giving the crowd (and possibly human players) a robots eye view (something that would make the game MORE exciting ... if you ask me).
Are there issues to overcome in driving without seeing the robot? Absolutely.
Are they impossible to overcome? not at all.