Team83
October 20, 2015, 9:45am
1
Hello Karthik…
In the previous years (not last year since bots would have to plow through the pyramid of cubes), there was a rule that any robot that crosses the plane of it’s opponent’s starting tile (during the 15 sec autonomous period) was disqualified and disabled after the autonomous portion of a match.
Does that still apply for Nothing But Net?
All I could find in the manual was:
*<SG4> A Robot cannot Pin or Trap an opposing Robot for more than five seconds during the Driver Controlled Period. A Pin or Trap is officially over once the Pinning Robot has moved away and the Robots are separated by at least 2 feet (approximately one (1) foam tile). After ending a Pin or Trap, a Robot may not Pin or Trap the same Robot again for a duration of 5 seconds; if a team does pin the same Robot again, the pinning count will resume from where it left off when the pinning Robot initially backed off. Minor violations of this rule that do not affect the match will result in a warning. Egregious (match affecting) offenses will result in a Disqualification. Teams that receive multiple warnings may also receive a Disqualification at the head referee’s discretion. **There is no penalty for Pinning during the Autonomous Period./***B]
But this does not address any contact with an opposing bot as a result of crossing the starting tile of an opponent during autonomous.
Your recent post regarding indirect contact addresses such indirect contact as illegal, but the consequences of such contact during autonomous is not specified clearly like in the previous years. There is no mention of disqualification or disabling of the robot. The only rule that I can see officials to enforce is:
<SG15> Any fouls committed during the Autonomous Period that do not affect the final outcome of the match, but do affect the outcome of the Autonomous Bonus, will result in the Autonomous Bonus being automatically awarded to the opposing Alliance.
Reason I ask this is that in a previous tournament, we had an opponent that headed straight for and into both our alliance’s robots, throwing off our autonomous cross-court shots. The officials ruled that the opposing robot did not cross the loading zone and therefore was…in their minds…legal to do so. They were also allowed to continue play after that.
In close matches, those balls that would have made it to the goals could make a difference at the end since…say at 50% accuracy, an alliance would already have 20 points in the high goal in the first 15 seconds. If they are awarded the 10 point autonomous bonus, that very same alliance would already have 30 points guaranteed after the 15 second autonomous portion.
So…an alliance with one accurate cross-court shooter can simply use the other robot to take out their opponents during autonomous, accept losing the autonomous bonus, but could still be ahead 20pts to 10pts after the first 15 seconds of the match - because they would have 4 preloads in the high goal and the offended alliance with no preloads in the high goal but 10 pts for the auton bonus. At times, those 10 points would make a difference in a match.
Team83:
Hello Karthik…
In the previous years (not last year since bots would have to plow through the pyramid of cubes), there was a rule that any robot that crosses the plane of it’s opponent’s starting tile (during the 15 sec autonomous period) was disqualified and disabled after the autonomous portion of a match.
Does that still apply for Nothing But Net?
The Loading Zone has similar type protections in Nothing But Net, that last for the duration of the match, including the Autonomous Period.