Can/should a drive team ask opposing drive team to change their uniform?

[MechEng83]

Originally Posted by autox_vette

Is it reasonable for a drive team to ask an opposing alliance to change their uniform? (Sounds like an unusual question I know, but bear with me).

At the Midwest regional last weekend, there was a drive team who's uniform included safety vests with retro-reflective stripes on them. With the number of robots using vision tracking, it would seem to be reasonable to ask them to remove their vests during competition to prevent false detections.

Given the way our camera is mounted, I don't think it affected our performance, but one of the only misses we had during autonomous was while we were against this team, and the miss was in the general direction of their team. Also while testing in the pits, their team walked by and we did have a momentary indication of a goal detection. Coincidence? Note, I don't believe they were attempting to cause a distraction as I think they've been using those vests for several years.

I know vision tracking systems should be set up to filter out items outside the expected area (but this is not something that I had previously considered), but would it be reasonable to ask a team to take off similar items of apparel if you were concerned about it?

To me it would be GP to comply, but what if they refused?

It's reasonable for a team to comply with T26-1 from the game manual.