Ok so my robotics class is doing battle bots (disable only) and all the other team’s ideas are… basic: spinning parts, pushers, flippers, ex… MY idea… Bluetooth blocking! at the beginning of the year our teacher has advised us to make sure that the blue tooth receiver on the robot is out in the open so that the robot gets all the signal in needs from the remote control… so… if I can make a dome or a box that I can just set on top of the robot’s antenna, then it would be a breeze to win! I’ve checked the rules and everything, and it says nothing about this! My question to all of you is if this has been done before and does it work?
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I’ll give you a +1 for thinking outside the box but a -1 for not thinking through how big the box will be, how hard it will be to suspend it and drop it over a fast moving battle bot.
Plus, IQ parts are plastic and they won’t block radio waves like bluetooth.
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Tin foil if allowed, if not you’re probably out of luck due to the fact that synthetic materials, like plastic, are poorly suited for use in a Faraday Cage to block radio signals (like WI-FI and Bluetooth). You would likely need to completely enclose the Bluetooth module with metal, and even then there would possibly be some signal leakage from imperfect seals. You could, alternatively, try having long axles (loose or detachable) on the front of your robot you could jam into your opponents wheels to halt their movement. Also, having the Bluetooth sensor out in the open actually isn’t as big of an issue in IQ, due to the lack of metal parts, differing from VRC where metal parts are used which can block radio signals, so your opponents could likely move their Bluetooth receivers to the middles of their robots without much consequence.
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Nice idea! You can try making a very complicated faraday cage of drive shafts by making a plastic cube and criss-crossing drive shafts, but here’s a simpler idea in my opinion:
Build a claw and use it to unplug battery/radio cables
Or like @Laser-Turret said:
What materials are you allowed to use?
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Definitely would work (and be funny too), but just would have the grab the little clicker thingy that holds it in or could possibly damage the wire, so it could be a bit risky 
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anything really. but I tested it out today with foil and aluminum vex parts, with different thicknesses and everything, but it didn’t work out due to what @Laser-Turret said and what my dad, who is in AF cyber security said. He said that the Faraday box also needed to be conductible and have a ground. he also said that just putting foil around the antenna would just make the antenna bigger which wouldn’t do anything really.
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A point I forgot is the tin foil can’t touch the conductive parts of the transmitter, or it would, as your father pointed out, simply assist the module in broadcasting and receiving Bluetooth signals. This is achieved in DIY Faraday cages by lining the insides with cardboard or another non-conductive materials. Also, using a grounding wire would be a must-have to dissipate the radio field, though getting a ground source and attaching a wire to the moving bot and tin foil would be a challenge in itself. Therefore, may I suggest: The Bluetooth Blocker 5000
(Microwaves produce interference on a similar frequency to WI-FI and Bluetooth, and can jam signals as close ranges. This would also jam your own signal though)
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