Answered: <SG4> and Indirect Interaction

[Ephemeral_Being]

Hey, Karthik. We’ve got a strange question for you.

<SG4> is the repositioning rule in the manual. After all the specific clauses, there’s a section in the manual that states

The intent of this rule is to allow teams to fix Robots that are unable to move, 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

Is it legal mount an Ultrasonic Range Finder off the back of the robot, have it drive forward off of the coloured tile, and then wave my hand across the alliance starting tile in order to trigger an additional Autonomous mode? I would never be in contact with the robot. I would simply be triggering a command so that the robot does something else.

Does it matter if the action I am triggering is to drive the robot back towards the alliance starting tile, at which point it would be entirely legal to reposition it like normal?

Does it matter if the action I am triggering is to drive the robot back towards the alliance starting tile, but at the end of which it would NOT be legal to reposition the robot, because it violated the bit of <SG4 .iii> that says the robot cannot be touching any other grey tile?

Does it matter if the same as above of true AND I assure you that the action I am triggering will score absolutely zero points, so that the part in <SG4 .iii> that says it has to be entirely within the tile “before attempting to score or interact with game objects” isn’t a factor?

Does it matter if the same as above is true AND I assure you the robot will not touch a single game object after the hand waving incident? Or, at least, the intent of the action will not be to move any game objects, and were this a programming skills run there would not be any objects in the path of the robot?

I couldn’t find a single rule in the manual that I was violating, and it actually seemed to be the intent of that first clause I quoted. I just wanted an answer before we started coding.

Thanks.

[Karthik]

Is it legal mount an Ultrasonic Range Finder off the back of the robot, have it drive forward off of the coloured tile, and then wave my hand across the alliance starting tile in order to trigger an additional Autonomous mode? I would never be in contact with the robot. I would simply be triggering a command so that the robot does something else.

It is legal to program your ultrasonic sensor to react to the surroundings. However, you should not be breaking the plane of the field with your hands, unless you’re interacting with the Robot as per <SG4> or <SG5>. Hence, intentionally breaking the plane of the with your hands should not be done.

[Ephemeral_Being]

It is legal to program your ultrasonic sensor to react to the surroundings. However, you should not be breaking the plane of the field with your hands, unless you’re interacting with the Robot as per <SG4> or <SG5>. Hence, intentionally breaking the plane of the with your hands should not be done.

<SG4> During the Autonomous Period, Drivers and Coaches may handle their own Robot while the Robot is** in contact with their own Alliance Starting Tile** (i.e. the tile the Robot started the match on), and not touching the Bump, within the following restrictions

EDIT: I’m an idiot. It’s right there. “in contact with own their alliance starting tile.” Never mind. Sorry about this.

[Karthik]

EDIT: I’m an idiot. It’s right there. “in contact with own their alliance starting tile.” Never mind. Sorry about this.

That’s okay!