Today, In Minnesota was a tournament that really tested the rules for the first time. Some issues arose.
During Quarter Finals 1-1, 1008M and 25461Z(1st seed) took on 3141V and 81101A(8th seed). At one point in the match, 1008M of the red alliance expanded slightly outside of the 18 by 18, on accident, because the driver overshot the 90 degree position to hit the flag. It should be noted they did not contact any game object during this time. This was immediately corrected by the driver, because it isn’t even its optimal scoring position. It can be found in the below videos. This deviation lasted for less than a second, and they were ultimately disqualified by the refs. They attempted to argue this decision, but the decision was of the refs, and was final. They were warned previously for “almost going out of the 18 outside of the expansion zone”. The other alliance made other small infractions throughout the match, and they did not affect the outcome. This action by 1008M was not match affecting. The score would have been 27-2 if the disqualification had not taken place.
This brings up some issues. A robot can unintentionally, or unknowingly break this rule in a normal match, without affecting it, and have been disqualified because of it. And with Best of One in play, this decisions can determine a tournament as they did one of the first ones this year, so I believe the rules need to be strengthened and more clear.
I believe some rule changes could be added, and I will be posting to the Q&A shortly asking for a clarification of these rules(EDIT: I am unable to currently post on the official Q&A because I can’t contact our mentor right now and you must be a account of a registered team to post on the new official Q&A.). If anyone has an suggestions on how they could fix the rules to allow leeway, I would appreciate that. I acknowledge that the decisions of the refs, however incorrect I believe they be, are the final say. I also respect them, and thank them for the time they volunteer to help out at tournaments. We can’t expect them to be watching everything at once.
Here is the full match:
Here is a video I made to explain what the refs called:
Clip of just the offense:
Rules regarding this:
I know a lot of you are mad at the decisions of those refs, but this post is not to be mad at or criticize them, it is to address the problems in the rules so these issues don’t happen again. Please be mature and constructive in your responses.
Thanks,
Jack