Hello! I was wondering if it is a disqualification accidentally knock a cube on the opponent’s side during autonomous? Thank you!
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there’s a q&a about it:
https://www.robotevents.com/VRC/2019-2020/QA/405
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No its not. You only get disqualified if your robot crosses the line.
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@idek I gotchu:
The ruling @sarah_97963A linked to is written for EPs, not for teams. It tries to help head refs know what to look out for, but it does not help me justify a ruling or help you make sense of what you can and cannot do.
Here is my interpretation of their explanation.
Causing Cubes to interact with foam tiles, Towers, or Cubes on the opposing Alliance’s side of the Autonomous Line would be considered a violation of SG2 via SG7. Per SG2, violations could range from the Autonomous Bonus being awarded to the opposing Alliance, to a Disqualification, depending on the context of the interaction.
Causing Cubes to interact with foam tiles, Towers, or Cubes on the opposing Alliance’s side…
Simply contacting a neutral cube on the line would cause it to interact with foam tiles on the opposing Alliances side. This means that, in the strictest interpretation of the rule, that you cannot interact with those blocks unless you do so perfectly. Otherwise any forward movement would cause additional interaction. This is not in the spirit of the rules.
Towers and Cubes which begin the Match in contact with the Autonomous Line are not considered to be on either side, and may be utilized by either Alliance
Therefore I am going to issue this set of scenarios.
Your team collects cubes, continues driving forward, and collects the neutral cube. In the process of collecting it, it moves forward ever so slightly and this does not affect the opposing team’s autonomous: Legal.
Your team plows a stack of blocks and pushes them into the neutral block. The opponents do the same. As a result, both robots’ autonomous are slightly messed up and one or both cannot properly score from their auton: Autonomous is a draw Unless I can determine that the center block was pushed more in one robot’s direction than another. Then the side that it gets pushed onto will win autonomous no matter the score.
Your team collects all the way to the neutral block. The opponents do the same. You collide. As a result, both robots’ autonomous are slightly messed up and one or both cannot properly score from their auton: No action taken/ Legal It is explicitly noted that interaction may occur when both teams are going for that block. The alliance with the greatest scored amount takes autonomous.
Your team collects cubes, but cannot intake fast enough, and begins to plow blocks which end up pushing the neutral block a bit without going for it. In this case, the autonomous is designed in a way that it always pushes the center block without collecting it. They run their autonomous and their opponents don’t approach the line and are unaffected. Depends/Warning I would issue a warning, tell them to fix it, and in the case of a collision, would award your opponents the benefit of the doubt. If both teams have received a warning, then the auton will result in a draw no matter who scored more. Again, this describes a scenario where teams bump into it without attempting to collect it, and it results in the opposing robots motion to be impeded.
tl;dr:
- If your blocks fall into your opponents side, you forfeit auton.
- If both teams run into the neutral block, the team who pushed it further forfeits auton.
- If you plow blocks over the line because your robot doesn’t intake properly during auton, and it doesn’t affect the opponents: you forfeit auton.
- If you both go for the neutral block and the collision causes your stack to fall out, into opposing territory, which affects your opponents auton, you forfeit auton (assuming the opponents do not have the same thing happen to them)
I think all of this is correct, but feel free to correct me and I will make edits accordingly. Any other cases you want to ask about?
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Wow thanks for the long response! I really appreciate it!
Just to nit-pick - Q&A are written for teams AND referees and are an extension to the Game Manual. EPs just run event, we are not the referees. We might be asked for insights, per <T1.d> by the Head Referee, but ultimately, it is the Head Referees decision alone that counts.
The definition of Event Partner and Head Referee from the Game Manual:
Event Partner - The VEX Robotics Competition tournament coordinator who serves as an overall manager for the volunteers, venue, event materials, and all other event considerations. Event Partners serve as the official liaison between the REC Foundation, the event volunteers, and event attendees.
Head Referee - An impartial volunteer responsible for enforcing the rules in this manual as written. Head Referees are the only people who may discuss ruling interpretations or scoring questions with Teams at an event.
I did a search of “Event Partner” in the Game Manual - I was surprised to find that in <G20> we are allowed to temporarily disconnect a team’s cable from the tower… thankfully, under limited circumstances, otherwise I would probably go and randomly unplug cables from towers… 
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I love that rule. (< G8 > by the way) Our equipment used to disconnect all the time due to static electricity (certain fields/match controllers were worse than others) and it got to the point that I would just instruct teams to disconnect from the towers, and at the end of the match place their controller on the ground. It got to the point where we were replaying 5+ matches per competition, so I had to do something about it.
Also, aren’t mentors/coaches the only people allowed to post in the official Q&A?
You are right. They are written as an extension/clarification of the rules, and not an explanation or lesson. They are not there to teach, but instead to fill in gaps or correct misinterpretations. The challenge for the students is reading and interpreting the very technical language.
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