Ok, just for the record, no infrared jammers. That means TV-B-GONEs, alright?
Gracious Professionalism!
TV-B-GONEs are not jammers. and if they accidentally block out other peoples signals, well then that’s the other teams problem. Yes, people should be considerate, but if a team wants to use a TV-B-GONE, then there is no stopping them.
I’m fairly sure that there’s something in the rules about sending signals to other robots.
Not to mention that if one of the refs finds out you’re using a signal, you’ll get kicked out of the competition before you can even switch it off.
For fun I built a TV Jammer and it did work but only from about 6 inches from the receiver.
Video I got the idea from: http://www.metacafe.com/watch/881875/tv_remote_jammer_hack/
I think you would be well advised to understand how easy it is to see infrared being broadcast. In fact, you can by inexpensive real-time cameras that will show you pictures in the infrared.
You might get a little surprise if you try to interfere with the competitions.
But that’s just a guess.
You are not serious are you?
Who’s got a cell phone camera? On at least some of them, you can see IR transmissions. (I tried it earlier at home–also tested a fire alarm by mistake.:o)
Serious about what? I’m not planning on using a TV-B-GONE, I was just stating my opinion.
But, i may try one out with our robot in testing, and see if it can be programmed. (Maybe it can, but more likely it can’t… in which case i guess it could be considered a jammer)
Even IF someone were to try and interfere, and the refs or someone had a camera that could see IR transmissions. What would make them suspect that person of jamming, and not just sending a contiguous signal to their robot?
As far as I know, the “TV-B-GONEs” just send the turn-off code for many different models of TVs so eventually the one you are pointing it at will turn off. The only way I could see this as breaking the rules is that it sends more than 4 commands (albeit with only one button) but they don’t "jam"the infrared spectrum.
This does bring up an interesting issue I was thinking about that by the sounds of it, the IR receiver only works with so many brands of remote controls so if two teams were using the same button, wouldn’t they inadvertently interfere with the other team’s robot?
That is a strong possibility.