Our team has almost indisputable evidence
from last year’s state tournament of a parent from a team on the adjacent
table taking rapid shots with the flash going off multiple times a second
having an impact on our robot. As our robot came to spot where it needed
to find a black line and respond, the sensor reading it got must have looked to
light and it kept going well past where the black line was, even though the
sensor went right across the line without noticing it. Our sensor was
shielded pretty well from the front, but it wasn’t possible to shield the
side of the sensor well and this is the angle our robot was in with respect to
the camera when it went astray and never found the line it was hunting for. We
were all surprised at the failure (which caused us to lose about 50 points) and
it wasn’t until we were watching the footage later that night that we
noticed the continuous flash photography next to our table and pointing right
at our robot. So coaches, please have your parents abide by rule of no
flash photography during matches.
Andy Traiger
From: First Lego
League in Virginia and DC [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Scott Rakestraw
Sent: Thursday, November 10, 2011
8:31 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [VADCFLL-L] Flash
Phography and Light Sensors
Has
anyone experienced flash photography interfering with light sensors during a
mission run? Our team was asking this questions and I do not have
an answer.
Scott
Rakestraw
FLL
Coach