We were at a local competition last weekend and we came upon a descrepency in the rules.
The match started, the robot did its autonomous and came back to the starting tile. The autonomous ended and we had no problems. As soon as driver control started, we found out that our robot wasn’t working. I looked and saw that it wasn’t connected through VEXnet. I power cycled the joystick. After it wouldn’t connect, I asked the head ref if I could power cycle my cortex. The robot was touching the starting tile, and I wouldn’t have to move it to get to the power switch. The ref said no.
I have read <SG4> and <SG5> and feel like it is a little vague. <SG5> states that “During the driver control period, Drivers and Coaches may handle their own robots as long as it has never left the alliance starting tile. The intent of this rule is to allow teams to fix robots that were unable to move at the start of the match.”
I read this as “as long as the robot has never left the starting tile during driver control period.”
Was the ref right in not allowing me to touch the robot, or was he interpreting this rule wrong?
The referee was correct. During the Driver Controlled Period, you may not interact with any robot which as left the Alliance Starting Tile at any point during the match.