In subsection g, it is stated that:
Decorations which provide visual feedback to Drive Team Members (e.g. decorative lighting) are
permitted, provided that they do not violate any other rules and serve no other function (e.g. structural support).
It seems like Taran’s jank LED strip solution can be used! Am I reading this right?
yep, im planning on having multiple different indicators on my robot to show all kinds of stuff
My LED solution was actually not jank, thank you very much…
But it was legal last year, just not as an indicator (it had to be a solid pattern). This year I can actually do something with it.
Hey it was a great tutorial, I wonder what they will think about us chopping up motor controllers now…
that’s very interesting that lighting can now be functional in providing driver feedback.
I can’t think of any immensely useful applications but I’m sure some people will be using this for something.
Battery percentage and lift stages are what come off the top of my head
I would love someone to use lights like these that react when the robot operates
you should do some stuff with addressable RGB lights this year, would be interesting to see that being controlled with the V5 brain
R13d forbids (typo) interfering with any vision sensors, so presumably you should check what your lighting scheme registers as (if anything) on a vision sensor (or colour sensor?) from all possible angles for partners/opponents.
If there are any teams that haven’t programmed feedback to their remote(s) yet, I heartily recommend experimenting. It takes a little bit of processing/communication time, and glances at the controller of course if it’s visual, so it might not suit in the heat of battle depending on how fancy you get, but while you’re practicing driving you could include more telemetry.
They were 5V strips.
Vision sensors are
This isn’t something I am concerned about.
Yeah it is often used for things that cannot be obviously seen by the driver. In FRC we use it for telling us when the flywheel is up to speed (N/A for TiP), preset states, battery levels, color detection, climb status, and other things of the sort. I know that some of these aren’t applicable for TiP, but those are some of the common uses that we often will use in FRC.
Yeah, I guess teams with a smaller budget would need solid justification for a vision sensor purchase. Jumping for a mogo during auton will presumably benefit from one when the goal you intended is no longer there. And of course feedback lighting is not of interest during auton, so it can all stay off. Maybe a rumble and a flash at the start of driving to explain the robot’s condition.