Pinning – A robot is considered to be pinning an opposing robot if it is inhibiting the movement of an
opponent robot while the opposing robot is in contact with the foam playing surface and another field
element.
• A robot that blocks or inhibits the movement of an opposing robot while the opposing robot is not
in contact with any field element other than the foam playing surface is not considered to be
pinning
In this description it does not say that the robots have to be touching. It says inhibiting or blocking. Also there is no time allowance in the above rule. This rule is not being interpreted correctly in competitions that I’ve attended.
Yesterday in the finals of the AAI Classic one robot banged another robot into a corner and even though it did not make contact for more than 5 seconds at a time while it banged it there, it cornered the robot by staying next to it so that it was not able to get out of the corner. They basically butted the robot into the corner and held it there. This began in the very beginning of the driver control period of the match and therefore it cornered the other robot for the entire driver control period.
Another example of this kind of contact was at the Northwestern Maryland competition when 2 robots cornered one opposing robot during a match. Again they did not touch the robot for more than 5 seconds at a time while they banged it into the corner, but then the robot was trapped by the 2 opposing robots and couldn’t move, even though they were a few inches away and not touching it. They then held said robot in the corner for approximately the last 30 seconds of the match.
As per your description of pinning above, in these two instances these robots were being inhibited from moving and therefore this should not be allowed. At a certain point the offending robots should be told to move away from the robots they are inhibiting, whether they are touching or not. Robots should not be allowed to remain so close to an opposing robot that the opposing robot is unable to move away from them and the field object they are up against. At a certain point they need to release the other robot. There should be a time limit as to how long they can do it. They should most certainly not be allowed to inhibit an opposing robot for an entire driver control period of a match - touching or not.
We will not discuss specific rulings from previous tournaments in this forum.
In fact there is a time allowance in the pinning rule. You have quoted the Pinning definition. The rule is in <SG4> of the VEX Round Up Game Manual. I have quoted it here for your reference.
For pinning violation to be called the following criteria must occur. Consider the case with two robots A & B.
Robot A is blocking or inhibiting the movement robot B
Robot B is in contact with the foam playing surface
Robot B is in contact with another field element
Items 1-3 happen for 5 seconds
The match is not in autonomous mode
As you can see, there is no requirement of contact between A & B in the rule. The judgment of whether robot A is inhibiting and/or blocking robot B is up to the referee.
My examples were not for you or anyone to place judgment on anyone’s ruling but to analyze whether your rule is clear and that the refs understand what the rule means moving forward.
The rule says “inhibit or block” an opposing robot however that is being interpreted as having to touch the opposing robot. I have heard various refs say that in competitions. It needs to be clarified more specifically that Robots do not have to be touching in order for pinning to occur.
Would you agree then that a robot is being blocked or inhibited if they are forced into a corner and can’t move out of that corner because the offending robot is right there blocking them from getting out of the corner whether the offending robot is touching them or not?
Also -Is it okay for an offending robot to continually bang into an opponent robot for 5 seconds then back off and bang into them again for 5 seconds and continually do that until the opposing robot is stuck in a corner up against a field element and blocked by the offending robot, rendering the opponent robot unable to do anything other than sit in the corner and wait for the match to end?
This was addressed in the previous post. I have quoted it below for your reference.
The situation you are describing seems to meet the definition of pinning. However, it is ultimately up to the referee to evaluate the entire situation to decide if rule <SG4> is being violated. We cannot offer blanket judgment on a partial snapshot of a hypothetical situation.
There is not enough information presented here to make an accurate judgment of the situation.
I will try to be clearer regarding the type of interaction I am referring to:
Is it acceptable for a robot to bang into an opponent robot for 5 seconds then back off and bang into them again for 5 seconds and continually do that until the opponent robot is stuck in a corner or up against a field element and blocked by the offending robot.
Also if a robot does pin an opponent robot into a corner or against a field object, how does the 5 second rule apply - meaning does the offending robot have 5 seconds to move away from the robot it is blocking?