Answered: <SG4> Human Interaction (again...)

JesseCRN · March 4, 2014, 1:34pm

<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.
i. Drivers and Coaches may only interact with a Robot if it is touching their own Alliance Starting
Tile and no part of the Robot is touching a gray foam tile, except the interaction allowed in

ii. If any part of a Robot is touching a grey foam tile, the only interaction that will be allowed is to
bring the Robot fully into the legal Alliance Starting Tile, into a legal position as per <SG4i>
iii. After any legal interaction with the robot by Drivers and Coaches, and prior to the robot
attempting to score or interact with Game Objects, the robot must be in a position such that it
is touching the legal Alliance Starting Tile and no part of the Robot is touching a gray foam tile;
a legal position as per <SG4i>. i.e. Before the Robot leaves the Alliance Starting Tile, Drivers
and Coaches may not be touching the robot. If Drivers and Coaches touch the Robot again, it
must be touching a legal Alliance Starting Tile and it must immediately be brought fully back
onto the tile.
Note: Robots that hang over the edge of the Alliance Starting Tile, but do not touch any gray
foam tiles, are considered to be in legal positions for interaction as per <SG4>
iv. Drivers and Coaches may only interact with a Robot if they are on or in the general vicinity of
the Alliance Robot Interaction Spot that corresponds to the Alliance Starting Tile the Robot is
on.

During contact with the Robot, the Drivers or Coaches may not intentionally manipulate or modify the
position of any Scoring Objects relative to the Robot’s overall system, either by direct hand contact or
indirect contact via the Robot. (i.e. it is acceptable to change the orientation of a Robot that includes
Scoring Objects in it as long as the position of the elements relative to the Robot is not changed).

Drivers or Coaches also may not change the configuration of the Robot in any way 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, unless you are in the act of a repair). Any changes to the Robot’s configuration
performed during the act of repair must be reversed before the Robot can leave the Alliance Starting Tile.

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.

Violations of this rule will result in a warning for minor offenses which do not affect the match. Egregious
(match affecting) offenses will result in a Disqualification. Teams who receive multiple warnings may also
receive a Disqualification at the head referee’s discretion.

My question pertains to the interaction that occurs when a robot “launches”, “dumps”, or “ejects” objects. Is it legal to be holding your robot when your robot ejects a scoring object from it’s system?

A common situation of where you would see this happening is here (http://youtu.be/bP8kdDxd0KY?t=11s). 323X is holding 3 buckyballs, we (323Z) drive back to the tile and wait for 323X to eject the objects into our intake. Is it legal for 323X to be holding their robot while the robot ejects scoring objects? The robot ejects the objects once a button is pressed.

At our State Tournament the refs said that if we hold our robot and our robot launches a ball, that is not legal. Were the refs correct? If they are correct, can you point out which part of <SG4> (or another rule) disallows that type of interaction?

Thanks Karthik.

Karthik · March 4, 2014, 2:20pm

Holding the robot is legal, however moving/tilting the Robot to aid in the launching/expelling of a Scoring Object is not permitted as per <SG4>.

JesseCRN · March 4, 2014, 2:24pm

Understood, and thank you!

Karthik · March 4, 2014, 2:27pm

You’re welcome!