More foul feedback

[efoote868]

3.1.4 Penalty Assignment

Upon a rule violation, FOUL or TECHNICAL FOUL points will immediately be credited to the opposing ALLIANCE. Values are defined in Table 3-1.

As I understand, when a FOUL is assessed, the referee will wave their flag, point at the offending robot, then log the foul into their screen as soon as it is safe to do so.

I was wondering if more information could be built into this system. In an ideal situation, the ref would have enough time to log the offending robot and the rule violation; the offending team would receive immediate feedback during the match on their fouls (maybe in their driver station?) In a realistic situation, the ref would just log the offending robot.

In addition, the foul could be displayed for the audience on the big screen (captured in the live feed). This would also serve to time-stamp the foul and allow later discussion and review - not necessarily to change the outcome of a match, but to allow the GDC and referees to use the material as training footage for later regional competitions. I know that Soccer referees do this all the time, and it is a valuable training tool.

This sort of logging also allows a team to adjust their game play, as well as statisticians to filter results and improve algorithms.

Thoughts?