Robot Numbering, Attractive Solutions?

[Siri]

Originally Posted by jvriezen

Having a common standard (horizontal numbers, black on white, minimum size) allows inspectors, refs, FTAs, judges and every one else to nearly instantly identify a robot's number. Previous years bumper rules attempted to do the same...

I think this is what bothers me most about the rule. If nearly instant identification is the point, and I agree it is, this regime does very little for me as a referee. As someone who remembers the pre-numbers-on-bumpers days, I remember how much faster I'll identify this guy, this guy, or this guy than one of these three. Try it. (No offense anyone; nice robots.)

This is because rapid identification is less about size and color than it is about location and ascetics (there's probably a more technical terms for the latter). Bumper numbers aren't useful to me because they're red or blue or are quite so tightly regulated by shape and color*. They're useful because I know the team number is going to be the only thing between 2"-10" off the ground of each robot. (As expected, this gets harder with intakes dropping down--recognition is slowed even if the number itself isn't covered.)

I predict that multiple times this year I will ref three same-alliance robots with cluttered, light-colored sponsor panels or numbers otherwise buried under glaring lights/awkwardly placed geometry. If somewhere in that cluttered, white-ish robot are (4) 3.5" high numbers with 1" of white space, you can bet I'm gonna be struggling with it. Just be grateful they don't have us tracking possessions by robot like 2014, or as coaches we'd all pull out even more hair than we did then. Which is saying something.


This is actually true in some of the other examples you cited. At least at the events I inspect, pit signs are not always in the same place in the every pit. Whether or not they are, sometimes they're also absorbed into a similarly colored sponsor banner or the like. It takes longer, sometimes much longer, to identify these teams, even though the sign itself looks exactly the same. I've also been a race volunteer, and when people move those bibs (e.g. to their thigh), identification is relatively much slower.


*That said, I understand the need for strictness to avoid loopholes. And even this year, FIRST is clearly trying. Without being a marketing/ascetics expert, I have trouble formulating a rule that would satisfy both my concerns and those others have mentioned. Anyone have an idea?