Robot Numbering, Attractive Solutions?

[sanddrag]

Originally Posted by PayneTrain

I know some people are going to take this thread as an opportunity to be cute about how it's a standard and if you don't like it, you know where to put it, etc., but understand there are teams who have built Hall of Fame resumes that include impeccable branding standards to establish their identity across their robot, apparel, and other elements of their team. Students and their advisors take pride in the work they do developing these standards. I do understand that the creators of the rule wanted a standard, but I think it's ok to call it a bad standard, not allowing the smallest of latitudes in way of white on black (which I would argue could be more visible).

It's at the point where some teams will opt to have these numbers easily concealable/removable and make their number logos that they spent time developing to create a unique and highly visible identity larger than the placards.

I know this is highly subjective, and I hope a Hall of Fame team with great identity standards can prove me wrong here, but even the bumpers at their worst didn't look this bad.

Well said. I agree entirely. At least they didn't mandate the font.

The numbering rules of years past really were more than sufficient and did not need change. I don't know how to say this in a graciously professional way, but I blame the teams who always somehow managed to make crappy numbers that you couldn't read as a reason for the new change. These teams who cannot figure out how to display their own number properly are teams that really ought to be participating in VEX instead. You know who they are. There's a handful at every event.

Let this be a lesson to all of us: If you allow your fellow competitors to get away with poor quality work, and we'll all be mandated to implement "solutions" that are better than these teams' poor quality work, but worse than the top teams' high-quality work. It really reflects poorly on the teams that have been doing it a while that we have newer teams that struggle with these rather mundane tasks. It says that we don't do enough as mentors, which I'll admit, we don't.

If you haven't figured it out by now, I'm not a fan of the black on white color scheme. I prefer quite the opposite, and have never had any trouble seeing it, from over 100 feet away.

But, I'll get over the numbers eventually, and I'm thankful bumpers are gone.