A few days ago our team saw another team get DQ’ed from a match for trying to block the opponent’s autonomous, which was trying to get a mobile goal. We believe that this DQ occurred because of the G12 rule stating
Because of this, our team was wondering if intentionally bumping an opponent off course during the autonomous period is legal if the robot does not entangle, damage, or destroy the opponents robot during the autonomous period.
Defensive interactions during the Autonomous Period are not, by themselves, illegal. They become a <G12> violation when the action is aimed solely at the destruction, damage, tipping over, or entanglement of opponent Robots.
The referee will need to determine whether or not the action was aimed solely at the destruction, damage, tipping over, or entanglement of an opponent robot. On paper, “bumping” generally does not constitute destruction or damage, but it is impossible to provide a blanket ruling based on a hypothetical description. Please see this Q&A post for more information about how referees should interpret G12 in these types of cases.