<G6> Drivers and Coaches are prohibited from making intentional contact with any Scoring Object, Field Element or Robots during a Match, with the exception of the contact specified in <SG4> and <SG5>.
<SG4>[snip]During contact with the Robot, the Drivers or Coaches may not intentionally manipulate or modify the position of any Scoring Objects relative to the Robot’s overall system, either by direct hand contact or indirect contact via the Robot. (i.e. it is acceptable to change the orientation of a Robot that includes Scoring Objects in it as long as the position of the elements relative to the Robot is not changed).[/snip]
<SG4>[snip]Violations of this rule will result in a warning for minor offenses which do not affect the match. Egregious (match affecting) offenses will result in a Disqualification. Teams who receive multiple warnings may also receive a Disqualification at the head referee’s discretion.[/snip]
Q: Scenario is during match autonomous a robot requires repositioning on the start tile but cannot be moved without a Scoring Object also changing position during the operation, thus in violation of <SG4>. Say a team was unable to complete their desired match autonomous functions without performing an obvious Scoring Object movement during repositioning but they did anyway and affect the match outcome (i.e. scored more points through their actions and won autonomous), would that result in Disqualification?
So if this occurred during match autonomous resulting in the autonomous bonus being awarded to the alliance who violated <SG4> would that constitute Disqualification at the end of autonomous or would it be weighed up at match end (i.e. > 10pt score differential != match affecting)?
Disqualifications should never be handed out mid-match. Referees should let the match be played out to completion, discuss the situations with the other referees, then make their final determination.
Thanks for the clarification. I hadn’t interpreted it as meaning Disqualification handed out during the match, my question was more about what constituted match affecting and if the scenario during autonomous was a violation of <SG4> does a big score differential cancel out the violation because it was then not match affecting. Your response that referees will make a determination is fine. Thanks for the answers.