Please...no more steenkin' light!

[Dave Flowerday]

Originally posted by ChrisH
Any comments?

Yeah.

Personally, I thought many robots violated the light rules as originally stated, including the National Champions.

I'll assume you're talking about us. I'm disappointed that an inspector would single out one team that he inspected for this kind of bashing. You expressed your disapproval over our light. The FIRST Head Inspector was called over and he approved it. If he had deemed it illegal we obviously would have changed it. To quote one of your own posts from another thread:

Originally posted by ChrisH
When my son started playing soccer, he was upset with some of the calls at his first game. I told him then, "It doesn't matter what you think happened, what the Ref calls (or doesn't) is what happened. The judgement of the Ref is part of the game, live with it or don't play." The same principle applies here.

If an eight year old can undertand that, why can't some of you?

[Adam Y.]

just a little story to show that those lights can be very useful....when used properly and has two crazy looking dancing people by it.

I get the feeling you broke a few laws that night.

[ChrisH]

Originally posted by Dave Flowerday
Yeah.I'll assume you're talking about us. I'm disappointed that an inspector would single out one team that he inspected for this kind of bashing. You expressed your disapproval over our light. The FIRST Head Inspector was called over and he approved it. If he had deemed it illegal we obviously would have changed it. To quote one of your own posts from another thread:

Dave,

You're right, I should not have referenced a particular team, even obliquely. I have removed the reference from my post. (I can't do anything about your quote) There were many teams that had light placement that violated the letter of the rule as originally written, but were allowed to compete. There is no wrong in taking advantage of a change in the rules.

I was wrong and I apologize. Thank you for the correction.

Chris H

[AlbertW]

they should replace the rotating light with a lower-profile circuitboard with high wattage LEDs mounted around the edges pointing outwards, and a chip in the middle that "rotates" the light

smaller, lighter, cooler

[Vincent Chan]

Pain as it was, I've got to say I like the light. It lets you know when you forgot to power up your bot so you aren't freaking out as much as you might've been. It lets you know that the bot is running and that you need to get out of the way or else the arms might rip a giant gash through your abdomen. It reminds you not to stand in front of the bot and risk losing your shins.

I'll say there were a few too many rules for the light, though. And it might not've been so bad if there weren't an advantage to having a short bot this year. (Very short, with the light.)

Maybe having two colors of rope-light or whatever it's called: it looks like Christmas lights in a transparent hose. Get blue and red, and have them visible in or on your frame so that they're visible. Switch on the color for the appropriate team each match. Maybe that plus the rotating light, with fewer restrictions on rotating light placement?

I feel combining the two would increase the visibility a good deal. Of course, we've got to realize that Dean gets what he can while still keeping our kits cheap, so any light is better than no light, and rotating lights are freaking cool. (A few parents thought that we did it on our own just to be cool )

[ebenhopwil]

when the light is on, all passer-by's will KNOW that the robot is on. Quick way to see which robots are dead on the field. So that's one advantage of light over flag.

[Bruce C.]

Originally posted by ChrisH
Dave,

You're right, I should not have referenced a particular team, even obliquely. I have removed the reference from my post. (I can't do anything about your quote) There were many teams that had light placement that violated the letter of the rule as originally written, but were allowed to compete. There is no wrong in taking advantage of a change in the rules.

I was wrong and I apologize. Thank you for the correction.

Chris H

Chris,

I wouldn't be so quick to apologize. You were absolutely correct. There WERE several teams that violated the letter of the rule, not only as originally written, but after it was thoroughly rehashed, clarified, and restated again and again on the FIRST Q&A board and this forum. (Try to find team 1010's light during the webcasts of the Lone Star Regional elimination matches. Great robot, good matches, but no light visible ever.)

There may be no wrong in taking advantage of a change in the rules after the fact, but in my opinion these teams CAUSED the change in the rule, due to their ignoring it. The teams that followed the rules and displayed their light correctly had to make decisions and trade offs not required by the teams that broke the rules as repeatedly stated. I'm sorry, but I have to have a little less respect for teams that caused this, and for the inspectors that passed a robot that was clearly in violation of a pretty clear rule.

Yes, the ref's ruling is final, but it can still be wrong, and pointing it out may make for better decisions next year. This failure to enforce rules (lights, batteries, cylinders, last year's tethers, etc.) is one of the few flaws in the program. Let's try to fix them rather than rationalizing them.

Respectfully,
Bruce C.

[Jessica]

I'm glad we had the lights...we had a lot of problems the first day during Nationals (the practice day) and our light told us this because it wasn't working...We finally figured out that we had our interfaces switched. We were using one from last year, and one from this year.

But the light DOES need to be stronger...I accidentally sheared another team's light during a practice round when the robot actually DID work. Sorry to whomever that was!