Answered: <SG9> Clarification

Hi,

I noticed that in the VEX Skyrise Referee Training 10 - The Protected Area:

that it was stated that a robot would not be protected under <SG9>

<SG9> Robots may not interfere with an opposing Alliance’s Building of Skyrise Sections in any way. The
following actions are all illegal.
a) Contacting an opponent’s Autoloader and/or contents. (See Figure 22)
b) Contacting an opponent’s Skyrise Base and/or Skyrise. (See Figure 23)
c) Contacting an opponent’s Alliance Starting Tile or the grey foam field tile between the two
Alliance Starting Tiles and located in the corner of the field. (See Figures 24-25)
d) Contacting an opponent’s Robot that is contacting the foam field tiles mentioned in c) and not
contacting any other foam field tiles. (See Figure 26)
e) Contacting any Scoring Objects that are contacting the foam field tiles mentioned in c) and
not contacting any other foam field tiles.
f) Depositing Scoring Objects in/on the opponent’s foam field tiles mentioned in c) or on Robots
or Scoring Objects touching said tiles.
Please note that both direct contact (e.g. Robot making contact) and indirect contact (e.g. Robot
contacting a Scoring Object that makes contact) are considered violations of the above listed clauses

if that robot attempted to score on posts outside of the “protected area.”

Would a hypothetical hand-of-god robot that extends beyond the starting size (15", 18", or 24") and extends beyond the protected area while still touching the protected area no longer be protected by <SG9> if it was only retrieving game objects to score in the protected area? Does this ruling change if the hand-of-god robot is carrying a skyrise section?

All of this assumes that no other rules are being violated in the process, particularly <SG10>.

Many Thanks,
Blonde

The first part of <SG9> is crucial here. “Robots may not interfere with an opposing Alliance’s Building of Skyrise Sections in any way.” The protected area is not intended to be a universal safe zone; it’s intended to be an area to allow for the protected Building of Skyrises. Thus a robot that parks in the protected area, and tries to Score on a Post outside of the Protected Area is not covered under <SG9>.

The ruling changes if the HoG robot is trying to Build a Skyrise. Simply holding a Skyrise Section in order to gain protection is not sufficient.

Thank you for your quick response.

I have a follow up question.

As I read <SG9> and with your clarification it would be legal to impede a robot on the opposing alliance attempting to place a cube onto their skyrise, assuming that no other rules were broken in the process?

No, this is not correct.

Okay, thank you. This is the answer I was looking for but wanted an official ruling.

At tournaments when these kinds of questions come up I like to have these posts on hand when the kids ask why they can’t employ a strategy like the one above (follow up question).

Also, thank you again for the super quick response time.

Blonde

You’re welcome!

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