pic: Monty Illuminated

[zc923]

Originally Posted by Joe Matt

My only complaint with the lights was that they took precident over some of the teams. One time everyone started dancing on the field and they turned the lights off, ignoring the team fixing their robot. A few flashlights and cell phones helped fix it till they turned the lights back on. It would have been nice to have skipped some of the light shows and get back on schedule (we were 90 minutes late at one part.)

Just to clarify some things, there were only 3 light shows that were programmed, the others were on the fly, put to the music for the dances.

The lights were intended to keep the audience entertained, as well as lighten the mood among strong competitors.

The specific incident you are talking about, I believe a team was working on their robot on the field while the dance party was going on. It was very difficult for the organizers on the other side of the field to see what was going on. It was a case of misunderstanding and miscommunication. Had they been informed that a team was working on their robot, they would not have turned off the lights. To be fair, the refs allowed more time to the team to compensate for the light issue.

We hope they understand that everything was done in good spirit and not with the intention to cause harm to any team.