Hi Karthik,
Going off of this thread, you said it was absolutely illegal to push the large ball under the barrier. Now, about a month ago, we were at a competition, in which a robot “accidentally” pushed the large ball that was in the goal zone 2/3 of the way under the barrier into the middle zone. The refs said that they would just measure which zone it was in more, as they felt it was accidental. They ruled that it counted for 1 point instead of 5, and we lost the match. We felt that since it was in the goal zone before the pushing, and since pushing under the barrier is illegal, that it should count for the goal zone.
Could you give a clear answer so that we can know what to do if it happens again? I could not find any other reference in the Q&A.
It sounds as if the referees ruled there was no violation for forcing the Large Ball under the barrier because the act was purely accidental. As such the way they handled the situation correctly. I’m not sure how a properly inflated Large Ball accidentally ends up under the barrier, but if a freak circumstance like this occurs, no foul should be called.
Let me clarify, no one wanted a foul. The debate was how many points the large ball should be worth; 5 points because it started in the goal zone, or 1 point since it was almost completely pushed into the middle zone under the barrier illegally (albeit accidentally).