Robots using higher-speed drivetrains appear, from my experience, to have some difficulty pushing large numbers of cubes, either slowing to a crawl while pushing several cubes or being unable to push them in large numbers at all. This raises a question: If a robot is unable to push cubes effectively, is inhibiting that robot’s movement with cubes considered a form of pinning or trapping?
For example, during a match at a competition, our robot was able to keep another robot from moving by pushing it up against the central pile of cubes. Its drivetrain could not push the huge pile of cubes, and so it was not strong enough to slide out from between our robot and the pile. If this action involved a field element like a wall, it would have clearly been a Pin:
However, the definition of Field Element does not include cubes. Is it still considered a Pin or Trap if the opposing robot’s motion is blocked by cubes which it cannot push due to its design? What if the robot can escape by pushing cubes, but it can only push the cubes slowly, and so it would take several seconds to break free - more than the 5-count for Pinning or Trapping?