Ten Foot Pole behind the castle wall

[Stappy]

We asked if our drive coach could use a pair of binoculars to see our lift mech and were told no we could not as it would give an unfair advantage to our team. So we asked about the other team with the 10 ft pole and camera. We were told that was legal since it was attached to the driver station. I guess the assumption was it was attached by a cable because I swear I saw the pole sitting on the ground inside an orange traffic cone.

[M. Mellott]

Originally Posted by Stappy

We asked if our drive coach could use a pair of binoculars to see our lift mech and were told no we could not as it would give an unfair advantage to our team. So we asked about the other team with the 10 ft pole and camera. We were told that was legal since it was attached to the driver station. I guess the assumption was it was attached by a cable because I swear I saw the pole sitting on the ground inside an orange traffic cone.

So if those binoculars were mounted on a mini tripod set at the height of your drive coach, and the tripod was attached to the DS via a tether, bracket, etc., then it seems as though that would make them legal, right?

EDIT: Probably be better for one of the drive team to use the binoculars, since the drive coach cannot touch the DS.

[hardcopi]

We chose a 180 camera and shoot camera, gives us pretty good visibility. We make our driver practice with his back to the field driving just by instrument.

[Landonh12]

364 here - we asked this question on the QA.

We are doing this. We are mounting a 9 foot pole to our driver station. There is a socket for the pole to be driven into the driver station and we will secure it with a pin-lock.

Here is an image: http://i.imgur.com/YOI3awp.jpg

[Ryan_Todd]

We ran a bird's eye camera on our driver station for a couple matches this past weekend, by fitting the base of a telescoping pole into a matching hole on our driver station and stabilizing it with a velcro strap around a permanently installed brace. (We actually designed rev.1 of the system last year, but never ended up needing it.)

Anyways, it turns out that the "Camera High Atop Of a Stick" (CHAOS) development team didn't put enough thought into the placement of the monitor on the DS, or the camera's field of view for that matter; the drivers reported that CHAOS wasn't actually at all helpful in its current configuration. We'll see whether or not they end up revising it for Troy...

[Rook42]

We (3647) brought a pole and tripod to the San Diego regionals, didn't realize it had to be attached to the driver station. Team 2485 had one that was supported by the driver station and not in contact with the ground that they were allowed to use. I think it offers a pretty decent strategic advantage, especially when crossing defenses from the opponents courtyard into the neutral zone and for lining up a scaling mechanism if you don't have a spy.