During our last competition, we encountered a robot that “caged” opposing mobile goals. At the moment that the robot moves, is this considered possession of the opposing mobile goal and allowed to be dq’d? Also could this be considered a “wall bot”?
Here is a video for further clarification
It is linked to time
What time?
For some reason it says that the video is disabling playback, but it is at 2:50:45 for anyone who could help clarify
I would like to know this as well, a similar thing happened in a recent qualifier match. They make it clear that hoarding cones was against the rules, but as far as i know nothing about hoarding opposing mobile goals.
As the video proceeds, the robot grabs 2 mobile goals trapped in the robot
to my understanding, it is against SG6
<SG6> Robots may not intentionally grasp, grapple or attach to any Field Elements or the opposing
Mobile Goals. Strategies with mechanisms that react against multiple sides of a Field Element in an
effort to latch onto said Field Element are prohibited. The intent of this rule is to prevent Teams
from both unintentionally damaging the field and/or from anchoring themselves to the field. Minor
violations of this rule that do not affect the Match will result in a warning. Match Affecting offenses will result in a Disqualification. Teams that receive multiple warnings may also receive a
Disqualification at the Head Referee's discretion.
As far as I can tell, it’s legal. See
https://vexforum.com/t/answered-dropping-cages-on-goals/41605/1
https://vexforum.com/t/answered-definition-of-grasping-sg6/43019/1
The Q&A summary has even more examples. I’m not sure why it’s legal, but it sure looks like it is.
Could the GDC check this out? According to the GDC in the second forum, there is an image of a robot “locking” the mobile goal in which according to them is illegal. Wouldn’t this be the same as that essentially? Or is this not considered possession but just “pushing” ?
That was a clear violation and since the score was so close (15 points), and the red team controlled the blue mogos for so long it was clearly worthy of a DQ.
After finding this answer in the official Q&A, it would seem that this is a valid strategy assuming there is never any violation of the 36 inch rule.
https://vexforum.com/t/answered-hoarding-opposing-mobile-goals/41594/1
According to the referee training video on hoarding, if the scoring object turns with the robot, it is possession. Pushing scoring objects is a bit of a grey area though.
I think the issue is if they “grasped, grappled, or attached” to the mobile goals
Are they considered grabbing it? Or are the considered a “wall bot” allowing for the opposing robot to do whatever it takes to try to get the mobile goal? Including flipping the robot if necessary due to the robot intentionally preventing scoring?
Since when are there special rules allowing people to do anything to wall bots? I have read the game manual several times and never saw anything about this
I didn’t know if due to them getting in the way of scoring, maybe that allowed for special rules, as I believe robots are allowed to do what they need for scoring if a robot is intentionally blocking such as at world last year if a robot intentionally tried to block a robot, the robot could try and score there, and if the robot just so happened to get in the way, then that is their fault
I would think that robot would be considered attached, it is clearly not accidental, and even if it was, the mobile goal has no way of leaving its grasp, therefore it is a warning if not match affecting, and a DQ if it is.
Would this be correct? Due to them intentionally getting in the way, that is their fault?
I think the getting in the way part is true, but there are no special rules. Meaning just because a robot is in the way of your scoring you can’t like use their claw to pull our their wires etc.
Like in this example