Answered: Is Touching a Stack on a Mobile Goal Possession

[Highwayman]

Rule SG9 limits possession to 1 cone.

<SG9> Robots may not Possess more than one (1) Cone at a time.

And possession involves controlling the movement of the cones.

Possessing – A Robot is considered to be Possessing a Cone if it is carrying, holding, or controlling the movement of a Cone in the Robot.

However stacked cones do not count towards the possession limit.

Note 2: Stacked Cones do not count towards the Possession limit. (i.e. A Robot is allowed to control the movement of a Mobile Goal with Stacked Cones)

But, touching a cone scored on your goal destacks it and all cones above it

Stacked – A Cone is Stacked on a Goal if it is not touching a Robot of the same color Aliiance as the Goal and either:
a) Fully nested on a Goal (see Figures 5 & 6). b) Fully nested on a Stacked Cone (see Figures 7 & 8).

Therefore, is it legal to control the movement of a mobile goal with cones fully nested on it while touching one of the cones in the middle or would this violate the possession limit?
Would the ruling change if the robot were not merely touching one of the middle cones but instead grasped it?
Would the ruling change if the robot were not controlling the movement of the base at all and only touching one of the cones on it?
If the first scenario is illegal, are robots required to be built such that cone stacks do not sway and inadvertently touch the robot while stacking or moving mobile goals, or would this be an acceptable violation that should not result in a DQ or warning (again assuming the first situation is illegal)?

[Karthik]

This is a very good question.

@Highwayman

Therefore, is it legal to control the movement of a mobile goal with cones fully nested on it while touching one of the cones in the middle or would this violate the possession limit?

The intent is for this to be legal. Robots will be allowed to touch/hold Stacked Cones in the manner you have described. We want teams to be able to move Mobile Goals with Stacked Cones upon them, without being penalized for for touching those Cones.

We will be adjusting the wording of some rules and definitions in the June 15th update to make this clear.