Hi! I had the idea of attaching a speaker on the robot that can play music in between matches to hype everyone up. I only found threads from 8 years ago saying that as long as it’s not distracting during matches it’s totally okay. So as long as it doesn’t play at all during matches, are speakers still okay?
R203 addresses this.
speakers, sirens, air horns, or other audio devices that generate sound at a level sufficient to be a distraction
I would conclude that so long as the sound is not at such a level, that you are OK.
I do not conclude that sound above such a level is OK so long as it’s not during a match. This rule is a general robot construction rule [meaning it applies all the time, not just during matches].
Edit to add: Anything that would be loud enough to “hype everyone up” at an event would almost certainly be correctly judged to be “sound at a level sufficient to be a distraction”
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Also, be warned: Speakers on the robots are likely to stop working for unexplained reasons, probably related to all the sudden shock loading when slamming into the field or other robots during matches.
And before you say “well, maybe I should put it on the cart instead”, I point out E604.
You may be better off using headphones, just take them OFF before you go onto the field.
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Just saying
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By “hype everyone up” I meant people in a general shorter vicinity of the robot which would mainly be fellow team members, not going to blast anything super loud as per R203, thank you for the clarification!
Thank you! I’m thinking of having a clip-on attachment able to hold the average handheld Bluetooth speaker and take the speakers off before matches my team could also just save it for outreach events worst case. Would just limited speaker use to outreach events be a better idea?
If you are asked, I would think through the answer to the question “is that part of the robot or part of the cart?” (And I’d probably answer “it’s part of the Operator Console” or “it’s part of our technician’s tools for robot setup”.)
speakers going the field would have the be inspected with the robot. You would not be allowed to take them off once on the field. wireless (bluetooth) speakers would (should) not pass inspection.
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Correct; G302 blocks the use of wireless speakers as proposed. Wired speakers could (as far as I read the rules) be brought to the ARENA as part of the OPERATOR CONSOLE (edit to add for clarity: or as a permanent part of the ROBOT).
I figure that a majority of operator consoles (laptops) have wired speakers. Maybe just throw a hype video on it and call it a day.
Our robot plays Danger Zone upon startup. Branding must stay consistent 
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Yes, but only if they play Technotronic’s 1989 Belgian techno anthem “Pump Up The Jam”.
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I thought it was 2 Unlimited’s Get Ready For This. But multiple songs off of Jock Jams Vol. 1 would qualify. Though personally House of Pain’s Jump Around on Vol. 4 is my choice.
If I may be a curmudgeon. Imagine you are trying to troubleshoot, program new autonomous, or answering judges questions… and the pits next door starts playing music that will “hype everyone up”. Not everyone around might appreciate it. I love music, but remember your neighbors may not appreciate, the distraction.
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I think there’s some major rule violations there, first one that comes to mind is weight and extension restrictions.
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Yeah been mainly only thinking out loud since I just made this topic right when I came up with the idea. I wasn’t thinking of anything blasting, just enough for maybe just my team to hear. The more I thought about it, the more I think it’ll be better to have an attachment and save it for outreach events.
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987 did this on their robot this year, it was pretty smart how they implemented the speaker. They talk about it in their behind the bumpers. (5:08)
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First off, that speaker is a really cool idea! We have traditionally done it with LED strips, but we have also been talking about using a PI screen for on board diagnostics. Also, the REV digit board works well too Digit MXP Display - REV Robotics
I was thinking about this yesterday, is there a way to add a noise generating method to get human player attention. I don’t know of a legal way, as if it’s a distraction to catch the human players attention, it’s probably a distraction for the opposing drive teams too. (Although some of the slams on the back loading station in 2023 were just as distracting)
I know the Bees have a flash leds crazy mode for this, I just thought acoustic might be better. (I guess I can just keep being a loud drive coach too, the human players and opposing drive coaches say they hear me on occasion)
It was pretty quiet in match I could hear it if I was looking out for it, it was no way loud enough to get a human players attention. It was pretty much used for debugging in the pit and preloading correctly from what I observed.
They had LED bars for driver feedback while the match was running.
Independent of the rules issues, if you want tunes while waiting in the queue or working in the pit or behind the glass, why would you choose to put the weight and electrical drain of the sound system on the robot when it can be on the cart or driver station?
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