I was wondering about the definition (not rule) of the alliance platform. In its definition it says “Alliance platforms… can only be used by robots of the same color,” so can I drive on my opponents platform to get to the center platform or to block my opponents from parking?
No you can’t drive onto your opponents platform, under any circumstance, for any reason.
+1
Though it is still legal to pus them off their platform as long as you don’t damage them. 
Is there a rule against touch the opponents platform, because I did not see one
You can touch it, but can’t drive onto it. I think…
@Mark Trade The bit you were quoting reads in full “Alliance Platforms are denoted by their red or blue structural PVC pieces, and can only be used for Parking by Robots of the same color Alliance as the Platform.” There does not appear to be anything against use as a driving surface in the definitions.
@terminalvelocity I used to think the same, but could find no rule against it other than during Autonomous, implying it is legal to drive all over it outside of Autonomous unless we get a rule change.
I posted this question on the Official Q&A - please wait for an official ruling on this.
Watch here for response
Yeah according to the rulebook as of now, there is nothing expressly prohibiting a robot parking on the alliance platform of the opposite alliance. It just wouldn’t count for a score.
It is a great question! – -However, I suspect a lot of focus is on V5 shipments this week - not sure how many of the GDC are involved with that endeavor, so a little leeway should be given.
what about driving on the platform during a match? Is there anything expressly prohibiting that, or is that also still a gray area as of right now?
@lacsap It’s ambiguously worded. There’s two ways to read it:
-
The only use allowed of the platform by any robot is to Park a robot of the same color.
-
Only robots of a matching color can use it to count as Parked.
The first makes no sense, as it would prohibit robots of the same Alliance from driving across it to reach the center platform, or driving onto it and then driving off, as they would not have used it to park. The other clue that the meaning is #2 is that this is a definition and not a rule, implying there is no penalty for breaking any expressed rule. Penalties can only be assessed when the rules allow, so if this were intended to prohibit opposing bots from parking on it, it would have to include “minor violations that don’t etc. DQ for egregious or match affecting etc.” language to have teeth.
Actually, the language is ambiguous
It does NOT specifying if this is for scoring purposes or not - an event recently disqualified teams that did go onto the alliance platform of the opposite color.
I hope the Q&A will clarify this situation.
Given an event referee DQd a team at an event - clarification has been asked for and once we get it, it should resolve the ambiguity.
Any EP can post Q&A questions.
I am pretty sure you can drive onto your opposing alliance’s platform and stay there at the end of a match to prevent them from parking on it. The only thing the rule denotes is that you won’t get points for it, only a robot of the same color as the platform will. So during the ** * driver control period* ** , you can contact and park on all 3 platforms, but you’ll only get points for being on your own platform or the center platform. However, contacting the center platform or the opposing alliance platform during the ** autonomous period ** is a no-go.
It is not that simple - the discussion is OUTSIDE of the scoring part of the manual and in definitions… So ambiguous – please wait for official Q&A .
Agreed about Autonomous since the rule violation is crossing the double lines.
I feel like if it was prohibited, they would write something like minor violations can result in a warning or something or if it was a dq, but it does not say anything about this, which is why I just believe it is about not getting the points if it’s not your color platform. However, I do agree that we should wait for official Q&A so we can get an official ruling.
Again, ambiguity due to no consequence, but the language is clear
There is no purpose that a robot of opposite color can legitimately use the Alliance platform.
This was the zero tolerance interpretation of an event referee that resulted in a team being disqualified.
So far NO GDC clarification has been issued to say the precedent set above is incorrect in either the final August manual update or the Official Q&A post.
Like I have said, the Q&A question will finalize the ambiguity .