The Secret Second

[jijiglobe]

Team 694 has, for many years now, has had a secret trick that we used to get an extra second in our matches, but it seems to have been conspicuously removed and I haven't seen any discussion of it. The trick that we used is pretty simple: step forward as soon as the teleop buzzer goes off.

Most of you are probably familiar with the sounds that go off after autonomous ends (a buzzer, and then three bell rings). Almost every drive team I've seen has consistently waited until the end of the three bell rings to step forward, when they were actually to allowed to step forward at the end of autonomous (when the buzzer goes off). This adds probably less than a second to teleop, which is why we didn't bother going around telling everyone about it, instead opting to keep it a team secret.

We weren't the only team using this trick, I've noticed a lot of top tier teams using this trick, as well as teams that have been on eliminations alliances with top tier teams. I figured it was one of those little details that teams use, and didn't think it would ever change, but in 2016 it did.

I noticed almost immediately going the 2016 competition season, that even though I would step forward as soon as possible, the robot would refuse to move until the end of the "ding ding ding" sound. This is, of course, not a big deal, and honestly is the way things should have always worked, but after being used to being the first robot on the field to move most matches, it felt like being robbed of a second.

Anyway, RIP Secret Second. You will be missed T_T. Anyone else notice this change?