Please provide examples for correct ruling of the intersection of rules G4 (defensive piece ejection),G5(operator contact),S1(safety) for the following scenario:
Blue robot ejects a cube from the field with intent of G4 and it bounces off a Red driver and back into the field.
Is Red DQ per G5 for unintentionally affecting game by touching a game piece?
Is Blue DQ per S1 for safety violation?
Is bounced piece removed from field by ref?
Does it make a difference if Red driver moves in response?
Ref judgement call to determine if Red driver is crowding the field to keep pieces in, or is just reflexively protecting sensitive body parts?
Is it gracious professionalism for Blue driver to verbally warn/ask Red driver to backup to leave room for cube ejection, or is it merely “gaming/psyching” the Red driver?
For the scenario described: Blue robot ejects a cube from the field with intent of G4 and it bounces off a Red driver and back into the field.
Q: Is Red DQ per G5 for unintentionally affecting game by touching a game piece?
A: No, <G5> only prohibits INTENTIONAL contact. A referee may need to determine whether the contact was intentional or not. The situation you described sounds to be unintentional, and unmalicious. If the Red driver had reached down and blocked the cube with his hand, this would be clearly intentional and would result in a DQ. Again, this ruling is at the referees discretion based on the scenario he/she sees.
Q: Is Blue DQ per S1 for safety violation?
A: This is also based on the head referee’s discretion. These are very light foam cubes, I can’t imagine a scenario where a robot could eject them in an unsafe manner. I just had a colleague (thanks, Ricky) throw a cube at me as hard as he could, and it didn’t really hurt. Maybe the referee thinks the robot is unsafe, but I’m willing to bet he won’t.
Q: Is bounced piece removed from field by ref?
A: No, if the piece ends up on the field, it stays on the field. If it ends up on the floor, it stays on the floor.
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Q: Does it make a difference if Red driver moves in response?
Ref judgement call to determine if Red driver is crowding the field to keep pieces in, or is just reflexively protecting sensitive body parts?**
A: Yes, absolutely. The head referee would have final ruling on this.
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Q: Is it gracious professionalism for Blue driver to verbally warn/ask Red driver to backup to leave room for cube ejection, or is it merely “gaming/psyching” the Red driver?**
A: It might be gracious of the Blue driver to give a warning to the Red driver, but is is probably unnecessary. It is also NOT the Red drivers responsibility to get out of the way if he/she is warned.