[FRC Blog] FIRST Choice 2017

[Lil' Lavery]

The flags were used from 2006-2008. Having trailers in 2009 made it so the colors of the bumpers on the trailers could be used to identify alliances. They carried that forwards to robot bumpers starting in 2010.

While infinitely easier to see than the tiny lights used in 2004-2005, the flags just weren't all that visible. Spectators had to really focus to find an visual indicator of which robots were on which alliance. And even when you saw them, it always appeared to be a pretty low tech and inelegant solution.

Tipping and falling out wasn't really a huge concern, because most robots are done when they tip anyway. However, errant tubes were prone to getting stuck on the flags in 2007, which counted as possession of a game piece. Additionally the rules for the flag holders (had to be held vertically on the top of the robot) were hard to work around with some ramp designs in 2007. Ultimately the inspectors/refs would end up looking the other way for most teams, much to the chagrin of the some the teams that put significant effort into located their flags to avoid ramp interference (such as 1114, who had a really nifty design to keep their flag vertical as they unfolded).