At this weekends scrimage we came across some interesting questions about the definition of ‘Scored’.
VEX official definition “Scored – A ball is scored in a scoring zone if the entire ball is within the rectangular space defined by the edges of the scoring zone, and not touching a robot of the alliance that the scoring zone belongs to. Any large ball which is not legally introduced into play counts as being scored in the opponents scoring zone. Note: A scoring zone extends infinitely perpendicular to the playing field surface within the scoring zone
boundaries.”
So, in the attached picture, even though one of the orange balls was in red’s half (right hand bot) it did not count against them. Indeed none of the balls in the basket would have counted even if the whole basket was over the wall.
BUT.
Do they count as being in the left hand side of the field as they are touching a blue alliance robot. They have in effect failed to transfer the liability of the balls to the opposition.
One of the reasons for this question is:-
1/ Someone builds a huge hopper that can hold all the balls
2/ They fill the hopper
3/ They hold the hopper out of the ‘scoring zone’ over the back wall.
We know that a ball tossed over a wall, out of a scoring zone is out of play and no-one gets points for it but what about a ball that is still touching/in a robot.
Are the balls in the basket ‘out of play’ or still in the game?
If they are considered ‘out of play’ then “<G4> Balls that leave the playing field are considered out of play. These objects will NOT be returned to
the field.” means that the robot is not allowed to bring its hopper back into the game unless it empties itself first.
If they are considered to still be in the game whose ‘points liability’ are they?
We suppose a ball is considered ‘out of play’ as soon as it is no longer inside the ‘infinately extended scoring zone’ and only becomes ‘scored’ when it is inside the (say blue) scoring zone and not touching your (say red) robot.
What is the official ruling on this?
