Using a flashlight for aiming

[Neil]

Could my team just aim a flashlight at the high goal, and when the reflective strips light up, we know to shoot. Is there any rule against this?

[swwrobotics]

Originally Posted by Neil

Could my team just aim a flashlight at the high goal, and when the reflective strips light up, we know to shoot. Is there any rule against this?

I know teams have done this in the past with games such as "Rebound Rumble." Team 180 was pretty well known for using the method of "flashlight aiming" and made it really far in the tournament. I think you just have to make sure that the power source is from the robot and not a separate type of thing.

[MARS_James]

Originally Posted by swwrobotics

I know teams have done this in the past with games such as "Rebound Rumble." Team 180 was pretty well known for using the method of "flashlight aiming" and made it really far in the tournament. I think you just have to make sure that the power source is from the robot and not a separate type of thing.

If by far you mean finalist in Orlando, winning South Florida, winning Galileo and then winning Einstein then yes they made it really far lol.

It has actually been referred to as a Photon Canon, and yes it has to have it's power come from the robot battery.

[Zach101]

I believe team 33 used a flashlight on their robot in 2014. Plus there is a part in the robot section in the game manual that talks about what kind of lights you can use.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by MARS_James

If by far you mean finalist in Orlando, winning South Florida, winning Galileo and then winning Einstein then yes they made it really far lol.

It has actually been referred to as a Photon Canon, and yes it has to have it's power come from the robot battery.

Have any other teams used this technique?

[Neil]

Originally Posted by Zach101

I believe team 33 used a flashlight on their robot in 2014. Plus there is a part in the robot section in the game manual that talks about what kind of lights you can use.

What section of the manual exactly? A ctrl+f for "light" turned no results..

[Zach101]

I thought it said more about lights but it talks about which class lasers you can have and I'm not sure if flashlights are classified as Class 1 lasers or are even classified as lasers. So I don't know if "D." has any relations to what we are talking about.
Examples of items that will violate R9 include (but are not limited to):

R9 ROBOT parts shall not be made from hazardous materials, be unsafe, cause an unsafe condition,
or interfere with the operation of other ROBOTS

...D. Exposed lasers other than Class I. ...

[nxtmonkeys]

A Class 1 laser is safe under all conditions of normal use. This means the maximum permissible exposure (MPE) cannot be exceeded when viewing a laser with the naked eye or with the aid of typical magnifying optics (e.g. telescope or microscope). To verify compliance, the standard specifies the aperture and distance corresponding to the naked eye, a typical telescope viewing a collimated beam, and a typical microscope viewing a divergent beam. It is important to realize that certain lasers classified as Class 1 may still pose a hazard when viewed with a telescope or microscope of sufficiently large aperture. For example, a high-power laser with a very large collimated beam or very highly divergent beam may be classified as Class 1 if the power that passes through the apertures defined in the standard is less than the AEL for Class 1; however, an unsafe power level may be collected by a magnifying optic with larger aperture.

Basically, if it makes you go blind when you aim it at your eyes from a distance, then it's not class 1.

So, a flashlight would be ok, as long as it's not blinding.

[Zach101]

Basically you can use a flashlight as long as it isn't used to hinder the other alliances performance. Aka: Don't shine it in other people's eyes

[MARS_James]

Originally Posted by Neil

Have any other teams used this technique?

25 who was 180's partner at champs did, and my own team in 2013 (1523) used it at champs

[Neil]

What type of light is needed? How many lumens?

[CalTran]

Originally Posted by Neil

What type of light is needed? How many lumens?

Post from 2013 discussing Photon Cannons for reference. As far as the lumens question goes, lots.

[Peyton Yeung]

My team used one while I was in high school. This was the one we used. We had to use a voltage converter to step down from 12 volts to like 3.3 volts if I remember correctly.

[TimTheGreat]

Originally Posted by Neil

Could my team just aim a flashlight at the high goal, and when the reflective strips light up, we know to shoot. Is there any rule against this?

So the reflective tape is special. It's called retro-reflective which means the light only bounces back to its source. If you want to use this for aiming you will probably need a camera because there isn't a bright indicator from the driver station.

And if you use a camera, you don't even need a very bright light. You can use the led rings that came with the old axis cameras. They work very well.

[Kristian Calhoun]

Originally Posted by TimTheGreat

So the reflective tape is special. It's called retro-reflective which means the light only bounces back to its source. If you want to use this for aiming you will probably need a camera because there isn't a bright indicator from the driver station.

And if you use a camera, you don't even need a very bright light. You can use the led rings that came with the old axis cameras. They work very well.

The video for this match from 2012 has some good shots showing how visible 25 and 180's flashlights were when aimed at the goal: https://www.thebluealliance.com/match/2012gal_f1m1