We were at a competition on 1/21 in La Jolla where team 404Z’s robot lost every match with the exception of one. Their robot scored zero points during matches causing all their alliances to lose. Their ranking at the end was 23rd out of 28 teams. Fast forward to the elimination matches where the number one team picked them as their third alliance. Only during the elimination round did they demonstrate the capability of their robot to capture and engulf mobile goals. I have two questions, 1. Are alliances allowed to lose on purpose. 404Z demonstrated during elimination that they could have very effectively helped wins matches all along and they chose to lose and cause their alliances to lose. And 2. Is capturing and engulfing an opponents mobile goals within the accepted rules of the competition? I have attached pictures of their robot. They were with the red alliance and quickly engulfed two of the blue teams mobile goals such that blue could not score. S
Intentionally and willfully playing beneath one’s ability would not be in line with the ethos of the VEX Robotics Competition and could be considered a violation of <G1>.
However, insisting that another team has played beneath their ability on a public forum is a serious accusation and could warrant its own lack of understanding of <G1>.
Please see the Q&A Summary document, specifically page 7, for a collection of Q&A posts that cover this topic. We cannot provide an absolute ruling based off of this photo - in general, encompassing or covering opposing Mobile Goals is okay, but clamping on to them or pinching them is not.