What is the recommended method for referees to determine whether a Robot is intentionally pushing cones to a specific location on the field?
Similarly, at what point is the distinction drawn between plowing cones out of the way and pushing them to a specific location?
For example, would it be legal to drive across the field with the intention of scoring, but multiple cones are pushed all the way across the field with the robot?
Must robots “get rid” of cones within a timely manner or are they allowed to plow them for as long as necessary in order to drive to their target?
It is at the discretion of the Head Referee to determine whether hoarding is occurring or not. To do so, they will take into account things like the context of the full match, whether or not the action in question was Match Affecting, if the team in question had been warned about this situation previously, etc. It is impossible to provide any sort of a blanket ruling based on a snapshot of a single action within a match.
Regarding recommended methods, this topic will be one of the subjects of the referee training videos later this year, so keep an eye out for those when the time draws closer.