Alignment Devices

[CalTran]

Originally Posted by stoddard

At our last event we used the wood to align ourselves with the guardrail so we could shoot low in autonomous. We used them about 3 times before a ref said that we couldn't use them. We had no clue their were any rules in regards to alignment devices and we wanted to look closer into it.

If you're still curious, the rule that would be cited is G8.

Originally Posted by G8

DRIVE TEAMS may not cause significant or repeated delays to the start of a MATCH and/or to the FIELD reset at the conclusion of the MATCH.
Violation: If prior to the MATCH, the offending DRIVE TEAM's ROBOT will be DISABLED. If after the MATCH, YELLOW CARD

DRIVE TEAMS are expected to stage their ROBOTS for a MATCH, and remove it from the FIELD afterwards, safely and swiftly. DRIVE TEAM efforts that are either intentionally or unintentionally delay the start of a MATCH or the FIELD reset are not allowed. Examples include, but are not limited to:
A. Late arrival to the FIELD
B. Failing to exit the FIELD once the TOWER LED strings have turned off (indicating MATCH ready)
C. Installing bumpers, charging pneumatic systems, or any other ROBOT maintenance, once on the FIELD.
D. Use of alignment devices that are external to the ROBOT
E. Failing to remove OPERATING CONSOLES from the PLAYER STATIONS in a timely manner.

Emphasis mine.

[EricH]

Just a thought:

Your eyeballs ought to be calibrateable. How about marking the proper width on the robot, then using your eyes to measure where the robot is set up?

I have yet to see a ref disallow eyes as an alignment device. Shoes might be a little harder to use, but could be doable. Using the robot, or a section of robot, is a really good option as well.

[Cash4587]

At Lone Star we used a combination of a boulder plus our hand width to gauge how far away we were from the wall for our low bar autonomous.