Entanglement clarification

VEX V5 General Discussion General Forum
#1

I am curious about how entanglement is defined. Hook and attach make sense to me but what constitutes as “grabbing”. Is a lift under the other bot grabbing? Or is it something like a hand that envelops part of the bot.
I ask specifically because I have run into many situations fighting a bot to push the other to a side of the field or hold them on a side. The nature of our bot means that our lift almost always ends up under/in the bot we are fighting with.
If I move that lift up to reduce their traction/friction is that legal? I have been doing it but it isn’t obvious when I do because of how heavy bots tend to be. I don’t think any of our refs were actually aware of it but I don’t want to go into a competition doing this and a ref does notice and dqs us for it.

TLDR: is it legal for me to lift a bot to win a shoving match with them? If not can I lift up without taking them off the ground to reduce their traction and also increase ours?

To save you the trip to the game manual:
Entanglement – A Robot status. A Robot is Entangled if it has grabbed, hooked, or attached to an
opposing Robot or a Field Element.

Trapping – A Robot status. A Robot is Trapping if it has restricted an opposing Robot into a small,
confined area of the field, approximately the size of one foam field tile or less, and has not provided an
avenue for escape. Trapping can be direct (e.g. pinning an opponent to a field perimeter wall) or indirect
(e.g. preventing a Robot from escaping from a corner of the field).

This of course isn’t all the rules relating to trapping and entanglement but this post would be massive if I put them all here.

#2

a good rule of thumb for entanglement is the question, if both robots were to try and drive apart, would they come apart? if yes, they are probably not entangled. if no, they probably are.

if you’re lifting up the base of an opponent to win pushing matches, this can be legal if you do so in a way that doesn’t cause them to get stuck on your robot (they can back away if they chose). People have done this in the past using wedges. But be careful not to tip an opponent, entangle, or trap them.

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#3

thanks. If i were to lift a bot, is that trapping or entanglement? my understanding is that I could trap them for 5 seconds which would mean being able to lift them and move them
If its entanglement my understanding is that its illegal regardless of time.
I think the answer is that its entanglement but being able to lift and move an entire bot would be huge for us.

#4

if, while lifting, the two robots become largely inseparable, then that would likely be considered entanglement.

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#5

Separable means that either bot can leave if they wish to right?

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