Heads up!

[dachickindapit]

Originally Posted by Billfred

The one problem I can see with such a setup on the control board is the fact that it's on the control board, which requires you to look down to discern the data.

This would lead one to think of a heads-up display, one that would let the information be broadcast to the driver(s) in the same spot all the time, regardless of where their head is pointed. However, FIRST tends to frown upon things that block a person's field of vision.

So, how could this sort of information be presented such that you could see the information while not losing your vision?

(The best I could come up with is a hat/helmet with the data on the very edge of vision, hanging from some sort of brim. Thoughts?)

Team 67 used this idea in 2003. We designed clips to attach to the hats/visors that our drivers wore to each match, and these clips housed LEDs. Yes, the wire hanging down annoyed them, but we made the wires long enough that the drivers could put them over their shoulders and not be hindered by them. We were a stacking robot, and we used the LEDs to tell when we could raise the box or boxes we had collected to continue to stack.

One suggestion: if you're going to make something that isn't firmly attached to the control station, you should be in charge of its location. If other people are involved, things tend to be forgotten and/or lost...be warned