Answered: programming skills question

[mbrunn]

I was wondering if it would be legal to lift our robot off of our starting square into a scoring position (assuming no parts of the robot were expanded) and then press a button to open our intake, therefore scoring objects? the robot would be approximately 30 inches over the starting tile.

[mbrunn]

we have a tournament saturday so would it be possible to get a ruling on this before then?

[Karthik]

@mbrunn

I was wondering if it would be legal to lift our robot off of our starting square into a scoring position (assuming no parts of the robot were expanded) and then press a button to open our intake, therefore scoring objects? the robot would be approximately 30 inches over the starting tile.

No, this would not be legal. You would clearly be aiding in the Scoring process of the robot, which violates what is written in <SG5>

@VEX Gateway Game Manual

<SG5> During the Autonomous Period, Drivers and Coaches may handle their own Robot while the Robot is in contact with their own Alliance Starting Tile. During contact with the Robot, the Drivers or Coaches may not intentionally manipulate or modify the position of any Scoring Objects (aside from any which are being loaded into the Robot), either by direct hand contact or indirect contact via the Robot. Drivers or Coaches also may not change the configuration of the Robot other than in the act of fixing the Robot (i.e. it is okay to reposition the robot relative to the field, but it is not okay to manually lift up the Robot’s arm).

The intent of this rule is to allow teams to fix Robots that are unable to move, to load Match Loads into the Robot, to reposition and/or reorient Robots, and to activate additional autonomous modes by interacting with the Robot via sensors or buttons.

**The intent of this rule is not to allow teams to manipulate their Robot in such a way that they are controlling the Robot via human contact or creating motions that lead to scoring. **

Violations of this rule will result in warning for the first offense. Subsequent offenses or an egregious first offense will result in a Disqualification.

[mbrunn]

thanks for the reply. Just wondering if there would be a different ruling if instead of lifting the robot into position, it was pushed/turned into position.

• Is what the red isolation robot does at the end of autonomous in this link legal?

[Karthik]

@mbrunn

thanks for the reply. Just wondering if there would be a different ruling if instead of lifting the robot into position, it was pushed/turned into position.

• Is what the red isolation robot does at the end of autonomous in this link legal?

Yes, the ruling would be different. By lifting the robot in the air and holding it, you’ve placed the robot into a position that it could achieve without human contact. Thus the human is aiding the scoring process. In the situation shown in the video, the human driver has simply reoriented the robot and placed in a position where it can Score, thus the action is legal.

[mbrunn]

thanks for the confirmation!

[Karthik]

@mbrunn

thanks for the confirmation!

You’re welcome!