Ways to check on the use of illegal devices

[Don Kennedy]

The thought occured to me that just maybe there are many ways to check on racers who are using illegal devises to have a advantge of other racers I will start first have a camera Zoom into the drivers compartment showing the tree plus the driver to see when the release the button ,any other suggestions ??

[Billy Nees]

Hoo Boy!

[Don Kennedy]

FYI Just a few ways
Some devices available are wireless traction control, although this is not yet refined ,a way to trip the beams at the finish line , a tree reader ,a wireless delay box ,plus by the way lock up convertors are Being used which are illegal, a remote way from the line by a crew man to release the trans brake via a camera looking at the tree .a person at the finish line to trip the beams with a very simple device similar to your garage door opener

[Charles Stewart]

I agree with you Don and here my own short… story.

In 2022 I was at the Ace Ohio Fall Slam (25-28 august) at Dragway42 and I was standing on top of the “left bank” direct in line with the 1/8 mile finish line to take some weather data.
I then observed a spectator "in a van" wearing a small headphone and a playing with his cellular phone or some kind of an electronic gizmo, making part time discussions right at the trap, only during runs of some certain family cars. He stayed in his van all four days long at +30 degree temperature doing this...
Further in the first day, I went up in the left spectator stand right in line with the starting line, in order to obtain more data for that track and saw another spectator up in the left stand doing the same thing with the same headphone model and cell (gizmo) also in discussions only and precisely at the start of the runs of those same family cars.
I realize later in the pits that those spectators were “spotter crews” for that racing family, working hard... at helping winning those big buck daily races???

[jmantle]

Originally Posted by Don Kennedy

FYI Just a few ways
,plus by the way lock up convertors are Being used which are illegal,

Don, curious by what you meant by this as most late 70's cars and newer were available with a lockup converter.

." Lockup converter permitted if
OEM-equipped with lockup converter and OEM transmission
is used."

[tstickff]

What’s the purpose of having a cell phone 3 feet behind the rear tail lens every pass? Asking for a friend.

Tim stickles

[Cglrcng]

After having just mentored High School FIRST Robotics for well over a decade (both FRC 150 lb robots and FTC 18" cubed approx 40 lb robots), and being an IT Tech w/ more than 2 decades of experience in computer building, repair and diagnosing, and 3 college educated sons who are networking artists (1 -the oldest of which actually travelled the world, not once but twice for Global Crossing helping to actually set up originally the networking backbone worldwide (he installed the switches that the backbone operates over, not once, but twice...the first time to establish the original backbone, then years later to miniaturize those switches when smaller packages were available to save space, reduce wiring, reduce heat, etc, and upgraded it again), why hire new, when you can use the guys that did it originally, nobody knew the true backbone like the original installers.

Anyway, he is now an FTA (Feild Technical Advisor), for FIRST out of New Hampshire, the FRC and FTC Robots are all run on a specially designed and engineered secured wireless network, and all are connected worldwide from field in an event arena, high school gym, or major convention center, etc. (where maybe worldwide up to 25-45 different events), are run over a 3-5 day event period simultaneously from as many locations across the planet with teams that number in the 5,000 teams registered a year, from over 171 countries (the 150 lb FRC robots are playing a task based game, and a different game each year.

The actual whole thing is a technical Engineering Nightmare (disguised as a game only to keep high school students interested), in Steam (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math) and prepare them for careers in corporations and industry properly.

Over that period I have seen and we have used and seen a million electronic items in packages so small and light, both used on and off robot, some wireless, some wired, that you would find most extremely hard to detect if used on a vehicle the size of ours we compete with.

As everything must fit within a much smaller package (Just visit AndyMark.com for proof and imagine the millions of possibilities of crossbreeding usages of many of those robot parts available to the robotics community, then multiply by thousands to millions of worldwide sellers, and available parts suppliers...hey I am not encouraging anyone to actually do anything here, just showing the auto speed parts industry is not the only industry to look to when looking for all the possibilities out there you would need to look for), than those we compete with (much larger vehicles), weight to an FRC robot is usually limited to 150 lbs max, so everything that goes into the design of that specific task bot is weighed, not to the pound but to the Oz or 10th of an Oz or even less, constantly documented, and the scales are more accurate that are used in competitions because they are smaller and easier to calibrate, and you are extremely mindful of everything that goes into it, and the rulebook is in even finer detail, and as lengthy as ours (usually 165-175 pages), with only 1 major difference...Our NHRA Section 11 is specific (paraphrased here only......"if it is listed as allowed you may use it, if it is prohibited you may not, but if it is not listed as allowed...ask first." Wherein the FIRST program inspires and encourages "Thinking Outside The Box" type innovation, thinking and doing...Unless it is specifically prohibited by the rules, you are perfectly free to do whatever you like, own it, share it, hide it, use it! Breaking the rules is prohibited, but if the rules do not prohibit something break the rules of science and phyisics itself if you can, and yes, I have seen some unbelievable, absolutely impossible tasks performed at speeds I never thought were possible by a wireless toy.

However, as in NHRA Drag Racing, and FIRST Robotics alike Cheating is discouraged, and highly frowned upon, and if caught both penalize highly for it. In FIRST just like NHRA, there are always going to be cheaters, just like there is in everything in the world.

But, a simple Wire Shark software program and a laptop to run it on will not only locate every single secured or unsecured wireless and or wired network running on, near, or within miles of a specific location where said laptop running wire shark is being run and constantly logging all the discovered networks and users (even if just used or connected for a millisecond space in time, it would be logged, and discoverable, by someone who knows how to use it properly)...I have witnessed my eldest FTA Son who was noticing momentary glitches in their secured robot arena system, he has a dedicated secure laptop just wire shark that is running hours before (a day plus actually), once we build the arena fields, until after the 3-5 day event is fully over, and was able to not only discover an illegal user tapped into the secure dedicated arena rot system, but knew in a flash the exact gps coordinates to locate the offender and was able to walk right up to an arena seat far up in the rafters and nosebleed section to a lone (very interested, and very suspicious spectator, and say hand it over please, and he secured the offending hack device), he was an active team member who thought really highly of himself, and thought he could never get caught, but he was caught red handed with a device that was intended to glitch the system intentionally, for a competitive advantage. It was super easy to see the pattern as it was only being used for, and against the final top 4 ranked teams in said event. And only to help 1 team, and against 3 others. It only disconnected certain robots by glitching the connection momentarily causing instant but lengthy indiv. rebooting.

[Cglrcng]

Warning: (Don't do it...illegal in Stock and S.S., I looked.) An FRC wheel encoder is about the circumference of a dime or smaller, and a quarter to a half inch thick, the counter ticks in the 360 degree are only separated by hundredths of an inch to a 1/6th of an inch. Forget engine RPM, or a driveshaft sensor, the real key is the wheels that stay hooked up, never leave the ground, never spin, and a sensor that measures the whole quarter mile. From start to finish down to fractions of the last inch (if the track is a full exact 1,320', and you know exactly where that begins and ends, and you can position exactly the start point.

Have I thought about it, sure, so I looked it up...not permitted. Do I have one installed? Absolutely not, but last week I was installing front end parts a 10 pc kit on my neighbors 2004 Toyota Sienna Van, and proudly right there in both front calipers (that I needed to remove to uninstall and hang up next to the caliper were 2 ABS brake sensors, about the circumference of a nickle, and 1" thick, and low and behold, they are simply wired wheel encoder magnet pickups counting the rotor vanes. A simple wheel encoder already installed on that vehicle stock.

I have no idea if that vehicle is even in the guide, but they are a part of the stock ABS brake system and could easily though illegally be used to determine actual track position accurately as long as it does not do wheelies.. lol.

[Cglrcng]

#2...In Robots as in many newer autos these days the CAN system is used, designed & developed by the auto industry, but perfected for the auto industry by extreme experimentation by the FIRST and other organizations by use for over 3 decades before it was actively used in the cars of today. Just plug in to any CAN system network (Star or ladder type setup), and you can in seconds discover every device in the network, or that is connected to any device that is connected to that network, wired or wireless!

But, with all that yes, go watch the Footbrake Challenge, or watch a footbrake artist at work, nothing electronic can beat trip zip green (.000) and dead on the dial. Perfect that, and you have the class racing world by the tail....Or, just go race an electronics are all allowed class, and break out that checkbook and wallet, as you will need it!

Oh yeah, did you know hacking into a secure network is a Federal Crime. Forget about breaking the FIRST Rules, you could have a lot more to worry about than your team is now disqualified, and you have 30 minutes to vacate the facility, your team loses, loses all season points, and ummm, we shall see about the other penalties on Monday!

Behind every pc of software ever written, and every pc of hardware ever built is a fallible human. Now we must fear AI will replace us soon enough. Well ,I don't personally, I am near the end of my lifecycle, so I am going to get back to hammering the tree and improving my car legally to run dead on, otherwise my left leg knows where the brake pedal is and I am watching you from the 1/8th mile marker out to that last inch from my slow moving 3 mirrored fishbowl anyway.

And cheaters never prosper, eventually many if not all will be caught, or karma will catch them. But, it is NHRA's responsibility to catch, police, & punish, & ours by the the book to protest that which we think is wrong and that comes with risks, both financially and personally, which is sometimes necessary, but should not be done (or accepted by NHRA), if done for a competitive advantage.

You could seek for decades for each avail. cheater device, and they are being invented, designed, and improved upon daily. Waste your time improving your own game, it will make you happier and less suspicious of the competitors surrounding you and make all that technology spent on moot.

[Jim Caughlin]

Originally Posted by Don Kennedy

The thought occured to me that just maybe there are many ways to check on racers who are using illegal devises to have a advantge of other racers I will start first have a camera Zoom into the drivers compartment showing the tree plus the driver to see when the release the button ,any other suggestions ??

That would require that NHRA enforce the no tinted windows other than factory original. I have cars come into my shop that regularly have tinting so dark that the driver can't be seen. I have broached this subject with NHRA in the past with no results, they told me that I should rat out the offenders, I told them that it is their job to enforce the rules, not me.