Alliance starting positions

[itpragmatik]

My team expects our robot to be placed at a certain location at the start of the match. This allows us to write autonomous program - to figure out distance/time to score the goals.

What happens if our alliance partner also expects to place their robot at the same or very nearby position that could interfer with our robot positioning.

Are we both or one of us expected to change the autonomous programming on the fly at the match time?

[Gear_Geeks]

You can write more than one autonomous program and select which you want to use after talking to your alliance partner. To select which program, you can use an LCD screen, potentiometer, jumper cables, etc. Last resort would be to write a program on the fly…

[AppleDavidJeans]

Like he said, you can write more than one autonomous program, load it onto the robot, and design a way to select a routine before the match. That’s how you can handle this situation.

For Starstruck, I built a simple autonomous selector dial out of a potentiometer, a linear slide motor bracket, and an axle with a 12-tooth gear and standoff coupler on it. You can cut out a label from the vex parts cardboard packaging to put on your dial.

[B-Kinney]

@AppleDavidJeans

For Starstruck, I built a simple autonomous selector dial out of a potentiometer, a linear slide motor bracket, and an axle with a 12-tooth gear and standoff coupler on it. You can cut out a label from the vex parts cardboard packaging to put on your dial.

(Emphasis mine, in all quotes.)

@AppleDavidJeans:
Unless I am mistaken, the usage of packaging for this purpose is not legal.

According to R5b:

Only the VEX Robotics Design System Components specifically designed to be used for Robot construction are allowed. Using additional components outside their typical purpose is against the intent of the rule (i.e. please don’t try using VEX apparel, competition support materials, packaging or other non-robot products on a VEX Robotics Competition Robot).

I assume these items would be legal for use as a non-functional decoration “provided that these do not affect the robot performance in any significant way or affect the outcome of the match” (R7d), but I don’t think they would be allowed to serve a functional purpose, such as indicating which autonomous mode was selected.

Also, during NBN, the question was asked in this Q&A thread:

Also we made a dial with a potentiometer and a knob with a intake roller to use to switch between programs quickly. Would it be legal to cover the front of a section of plate with a layer of masking tape so we can write the tick marks to place the dial?

And the answer was given:

No, this is not legal, please see above.

Which referred to the fact that:

Tape is not part of the VEX EDR product line, thus it is not legal unless specifically allowed in <R7>.

R7(g) says tape can be used to label wires and motors, but does not say it can label anything else.

I assume the same would apply to cardboard, or any other non-VEX material.

I am not sure if there is a legal way to label a potentiometer for this purpose, although I assume it would be legal to create a label and hold it up to the potentiometer (or even attach it to the robot) in between matches, as long as this label was not on the robot during the match.