You’ve got to be kidding me, EP!
We expand a lot of effort to teach our students to rely on the feedback from sensors, instead of doing everything manually or by time, because this is what necessary in the real world.
Yes, in the real-real world there are many unforeseen conditions and analog sensors are subject to a lot of environmental noise and should not be the single point of trust when your program needs to make decision.
But VRC is an educational program, it is a learning environment, half way between ideal world where there is no noise, and the real world where s*** happens. Nobody should expect students to handle the all aspects of the last from the get go.
Did any adults, preferably engineers who understand how IR overexposure makes sensors useless, talked to EP?
I am always polite to any volunteers or EPs at the venues but, if I had been there, I would make lot of noise, until the curtains were closed, especially since it was technically possible.
It is definitely not the students’ responsibility. It is responsibility of all adults: mentors, EPs, and especially RECF, to create environment that rewards students for learning and practicing advanced skills (i.e. using sensors and automated algorithms).