I have seen a few posts and videos of dump bots scoring from underneth and the sides of the trough. Then covering the trough from the side. Our question comes from a situation we have seen in a match.
Is it allowed for the dumping mechanism covering the trough on the robot to apply pressure to the trough to keep other robots from moving it? In fact lifiting a portion of the robot off the ground when it is covering the trough.
<SG9> Robots may not intentionally grasp, grapple or attach to any Field Elements. Strategies with mechanisms that react against multiple sides of a field element in an effort to latch onto said field element are prohibited. (See figures 8-10) The intent of this rule is to prevent teams from both unintentionally damaging the field, and from anchoring themselves to the field. Violations of this rule will result in a Disqualification.
From our understanding since the trough is supporting part of the robots weight this is not allowed. Can you please clear this up for us.
If a Robot is intentionally supporting part of its weight on the trough, it is at a risk of damaging the field and could be called for violating <SG9>. Any efforts to hang off the trough are not permitted.
