So, I’ve been working on installing lights on my V5 robot, and I need to check one last thing before I order it. I know I want some regular Strip LEDs, but I was curious if these: would be legal (the ones with remote control). It looks to be an infrared controller. Would using this be allowed? Would having that controller violate rule <R15>a?
I wanna say, If you are trying to change the lights during a match its illegal. but don’t Quote me on it
We don’t want to change during a match, only before. Could one of the mods call this officially?
From what I understand from the Rule, You can’t have any other means of controlling anything, The part that isn’t stated if you can BEFORE a match, Definitely gonna want a Mod to call this answer
I’d like to add that the lights are connected to the V5 brain with an mc29. The lights are ONLY getting power from the brain, no data. Data can’t go between the lights and brain
I don’t have a login to robot events. My coach does - and we just got off for winter break. Can I ask in the official q and a on the forums?
There is no longer an official Q&A on the forums. The only official Q&A is on Robotevents with access limited to the coach/mentor or others designated as the official contact for the team.
Then what is the purpose of this?
Judging deals with the Judging for the Awards such as Excellence, Design and the other Judged Awards. It does NOT deal with the rules for the game or the robot. As of this past summer ALL official questions and ruling have been moved to the Official Q&A on Robotevents.
I think Im just gonna err on the safe side
<R8G>
If someone had a vision sensor they could get you DQ for interfering with the sensor.
No, a team cannot “get you DQ” in that sense for any reason. Disqualifications are entirely determined by referees (and, in rare cases, inspectors).
Furthermore, <R8g> holds regardless of vision sensor usage by any team on the field. Even if all 4 teams are using Cortexes, a team can be required to get reinspected for decorations and lights that merely could interfere with an opponent’s hypothetical vision sensor.
I would consider LED strips legal when (a) pointing directly down toward the field, (b) relatively dim, and © colored distinctly differently from the red, blue, and yellow used on the field. Missing any one of those criteria means I (as a referee or inspector) will most likely send you to change/disable your lighting and get reinspected.
@Sylvie You should probably keep in mind my criteria to virtually-guarantee the legality of your lighting, especially because there’s a good chance I will be inspecting or refereeing you in the future.
@TaranMayer Also, per <G7a>, <R11>, and <R15a>, remotely controlled LED strips should be fine as long as you don’t bring the remote to the field and no one tries to remotely control your LEDs during matches. In other words, configure your LED strip(s) in advance in the pits (and only in advance in the pits), and you should be fine.
Have I met you? Also, we are not going to the ACP qualifier in February (overbooked). In regards to the lights, we have decided to take the safe route and go with the manual switch lights, not the remote ones. We were thinking of using (in addition to some indicator lights) one red and one blue strip in the chassis. They would be dim, and only active when the match isn’t (pre-auton and in between auton and driver). These would be for a visual cue to make sure which auton was going to run. Would these be allowed?
It is an interesting question. Given teams are allowed to calibrate their vision systems, as long as it does not delay the match, it can be considered that turning on your dim blue once Auton or Drive period starts could be considered as interfering with vision sensors because they were unable to calibrate with your LEDs being on during the calibration.
I would argue that you can have your LEDS on off the field, but not on under the conditions you describe. You may be causing unnecessary delays. If it is truly “non-functional”, your team should have no issue not powering them at all during a match.
If its usage is related in any way to the progress/timing of a match (except for the very start of autonomous, signifying the start of the match), I would consider it functional and thus illegal.
And no, I do not exclusively volunteer at the ACP tournament. I was at the CUSD Invitational and plan to be at State also, if not others. Besides, if you are legal by my standards, you will probably survive @JustinM too, who you also will probably see throughout the season.
Woah I didn’t know I still got emails from the forum haha. I have talked to 6142 teams many times and I volunteered at your event last year and am doing so this year so you will see me 
Wait but you’re in the ref training videos