I’m going to go through this once. I may or may not answer questions about the first part of this post. This is another round of FRC History 102: Rules that Changed the Game.
For this episode, we travel back in time to the year almost 10 years ago when autonomous was introduced: 2003. Yep, my first year on a team. I hadn’t discovered CD yet, but I’ve seen some of this sort of thread from way back then.
Now, back in 2002 and before, you had 2:00 of driving. Teams would start the match with sticks at full forward on occasion, especially in 2002. Then along comes this 0:15 of autonomous to start that (actually, there were 30 seconds of match play before teleoperated, but that’s another story altogether–humans were actually on the field in 2003 during the matches).
And so teams started coming up with “Can we use this button on the operator interface to control the robot” scenarios, including using the E-stop, if I recall the threads correctly. FIRST then responded: You must be behind this line to start the match or else (I forget the penalty). Collective “WAAAAAHHHH” from the teams who were discussing this, followed by “How can we reach?” and “But we can’t go 3 feet fast enough!” See http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17122, particularly Dave Lavery’s post.
Do you see what I’m getting at? Other than the means that FIRST specifically says may be used to control a robot (the IR remotes in 2008 and the Kinect this year, both strictly controlled), if you are controlling a robot in autonomous/hybrid mode with anything other than onboard/on operator console code, you are violating the intent of that mode, and you can bet your rear that the first match you do that in, someone contacts the GDC and says that someone is controlling their robot via non-approved methods. The best you can look forward to is it being ruled legal for the event while the GDC discusses the matter. But then there are rules…
Now, the rules.
[G19]: Any control devices held or worn by the drivers must not be connected during hybrid. As noted, if you’re the control device, via a webcam, then either you or the webcam must not be connected. Your choice. (If you’re using special clothing, that would be the control device, put it down on the shelf; not only that but there’s other rules dealing with that.)
And the largely-unread rules.
[T33]
The only equipment that may be brought in to the Alliance Station is the Operator Console and non-powered signaling devices. Reasonable decorative items, and special clothing and/or equipment required due to a disability may be brought into the Alliance or Kinect Stations. Other items, particularly those intended to provide a competitive advantage for the team, are prohibited.
Guess what controlling the robot during hybrid is? Yep, a competitive advantage. Using your body to provide a competitive advantage… that’s a stretch, but I think that that could be called. Could you do something with non-powered signaling devices? Possibly. But you’d be dangerously close to a line between unpowered signalling device and device intended to provide a competitive advantage. Not a line that I’d want to cross.
I should also note that using the reflective tape would probably be considered distracting or jamming a robot’s vision system, and shut down under those rules.
In short, you’re violating the spirit, but not necessarily the letter, of the rules. And, in short order, you’d probably find yourself also violating the letter of the rules, when the GDC had time to review. How would you feel if the system that won Innovation in Control was ruled definitively illegal almost immediately, if it wasn’t ruled illegal from the get-go?
