Week 1 Observations

[MechEng83]

Originally Posted by IronicDeadBird

Whats the reasoning behind no tethering on the field? The red cards in FRC follow the general pattern of being safety related (don't let your robot wield totes in an aggressive manner towards refs), GP related (be civil) or just actions that would break the game (don't throw auto totes that you took off the field into the auto zone during auto)
Tethering doesn't fall into any of those categories at least not that I know of.

Here you go

Originally Posted by Team Update 2015-01-23

This note is from Frank Merrick, Director of FRC

Hi Teams. In this update, you will see we’ve added a blue box to G14 to explain what we mean by ‘tethering’. I’ll tell you how this came about. Someone asked a question (Q216)
about using an external control box to drive a motor after a match. It wasn’t stated in the question, but we’re assuming the intent was to reset a mechanism and possibly get the
robot into Transport Configuration. This approach raised safety concerns for us. At the end of a match, teams and volunteers are rushing around trying to clear the field and get
it set up for the next match. They may not necessarily be paying attention to robot mechanisms activating near them. If we allowed custom control boxes, without a number of
additional rules that would add significant complexity, teams could be creating controls that slam motors on at full speed. They could potentially lose control of the situation, in
a crowded, busy environment. Broadening the traditional FRC definition of ‘tethering’ seemed the best way for us to solve this issue. It’s true that teams can still, for example,
leave hex shafts on mechanisms accessible to be mechanically driven externally, using hand tools or battery operated drills, so mechanisms could still be activated on the field.
However, using hand tools or battery operated drills to drive mechanisms struck us as more controllable situations. Most battery operated drills are variable speed, and – unless
locked on – if a team member’s finger slips or the tool is dropped, the mechanism in many cases would stop moving. We’re trying to balance the need to make sure teams can
do what they need to do to play the game with helping to ensure everyone stays safe.