I was wondering if this was allowed for the driver. I think it would be pretty helpful for a team if the mentor could advise the driver/ weapons mid game on the mic.
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Please refer to Rule G302 in the manual:
You can’t bring/use anything you want. The only equipment that may be brought to the ARENA for a MATCH is listed below. Regardless of if equipment fits criteria below, it may not be employed in a way that breaks any other rules, introduces a safety hazard, blocks visibility for FIELD STAFF or audience members, or jams or interferes with the remote sensing capabilities of another team or the FIELD.
A. the OPERATOR CONSOLE,
B. non-powered signaling devices,
C. reasonable decorative items,
D. special clothing and/or equipment required due to a disability,
E. devices used solely for planning, tracking, and communicating strategy within the same designated area (e.g. ALLIANCE AREA),
F. devices used solely to record gameplay, and Section 7 Game Rules V5 62 of 153
G. non-powered Personal Protective Equipment (examples include, but aren’t limited to, gloves, eye protection, and hearing protection)
Items brought to the ARENA under allowances B-G must meet all following conditions:
I. do not connect or attach to the OPERATOR CONSOLE, FIELD, or ARENA,
II. do not connect or attach to another ALLIANCE member (other than items in category G),
III. do not communicate with anything or anyone outside of the ARENA,
IV. do not communicate with the TECHNICIAN,
V. do not include any form of enabled wireless electronic communication with the exception of medically required equipment, and
VI. do not in any way affect the outcome of a MATCH, other than by allowing the DRIVE TEAM to
a. plan or track strategy for the purposes of communication of that strategy to other ALLIANCE members or
b. use items allowed per B to communicate with the ROBOT.
Examples of wireless communication include, but are not limited to, radios,
walkie-talkies, cell phones, Bluetooth communications, and Wi-Fi.
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You don’t need a microphone, you can have a coach (mentor or student) on-field with the team.
Also, you probably don’t want to refer to your second driver/operator as “weapons”
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This may be a translation error. Not sure where OP is from but this wouldn’t be unreasonable for “shooter” to get swapped out that way.
Edit: looking through OPs post history many of the questions and posts are focused on defense heavy gameplay. Maybe I’m wrong… I’ll give benefit of the doubt and blame translation first though.
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I’m going to go to a very broad answer here. Previous posts have already touched on the rules but I’m going to go into a bit more depth.
You get 5 people in the Arena: 1 Coach, 1 Technician (either of whom can be an adult or a student), 3 Driver/Human Player (must be students). (Section 6.2). During the match, the Technician must be in their assigned area (usually near the robot carts, but depends on the venue)–Section 6.3.1. Some number of Human Players are in the Source area, but not all are necessarily from the same team.
As a note, the Technician (and any team media or volunteers from the team) are restricted from signalling the rest of the drive team during the match (G207).
Now we get into G302. There’s a couple of ways to deal with the request you’re after.
First, the Coach could have a portable personal/wearable PA–this would be allowed under G302E as long as it’s wired, or POSSIBLY G302D. (G302E is typically a better move, to be honest–emphasis on “communicating strategy”.) That said, most Coaches just use a projected voice.
Second, and what it sounds like you’re talking about, the Coach has a wireless (or wired, doesn’t really matter for this one) headset with the Driver/Human Player(s) wearing another one. Theoretically, this could also fall under G302E, EXCEPT that it violates condition V (enabled wireless electronic communication) and quite possibly condition II (attaching to another Alliance member) if it’s wired. And a wired unit would also introduce a safety hazard. If you’re thinking of having a coach outside the Arena as a spotter, that violates condition III and bans the headset as well.
There might be a way to make it work… except for R906’s little “unsafe condition” prohibition, which you’d have to navigate around.
So, short answer: No. Assuming it’s found before match start, you’d be told to put it away. If it’s found during the match, Yellow Card. (Get enough of those already with kids and their wireless earbuds…)
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Thank you I guess we will have to figure out strategy before the match then.
Knowing what you are going to do before a match is very important. You need to be talking with your alliance partners in the queue line, if not before, about what each team will do. Your drivers, and especially your drive coach, should know the game rules before you go to competition. I tell our team members, “How can you play the game if you don’t know the rules?”
Also, in my mind, there is a difference between strategy and tactics. Your strategy heading into a competition should already be figures out. Strategy is what you will do and hopefully what you built your robot around. Tactics is how you will get your strategy accomplished. Your tactics might change from match to match depending on your partners, but your overall strategy should not.
If your tactics need to change mid match, then your drive coach (or drivers) should be able to adapt very quickly. And since your drive coach is right there with your drivers, no microphone needed. Just a loud voice.
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A bit off topic, but how come FUN is allowed to put mics on teams for matches?
FUN isn’t a team.
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G302 F gives an allowance for “devices solely to record gameplay” which allows both mics and cameras
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They aren’t wirelessly communicating in any way as well. A wireless lavaliere mic would be illegal. They locally record audio to listen to later. You can use a GoPro on the robot the same way, but you cannot use its wireless preview option with the app on your phone. Essentially not used as a live communication device but as a recording only.
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