Programming Challenge - Starting Position

[mtaylor]

I have a Programming Skills Challenge question.

Upon handling the Robot, it must be immediately brought back to any legal Starting Position

I read this rule as pertaining to the robot and returning to its starting configuration. Does “any legal Starting Position” also mean, if an operator chooses to handle the robot once the Programming Skills Challenge has begun, the robot may be placed in any orientation or position within the Robot Starting Position area as defined by Figures 2 & 11, or must the robot be returned to the specific location, orientation, and position from which it began the Programming Skills Challenge?
For example, can the robot start at the right RSP, make some autonomous moves, then be re-set to the left RSP? Or could it be re-set across the RSPs, facing sideways (but still fully within the pink boundaries of the greater RSP as shown in Figure 2)? I guess another way to word the second part is: Are there two discrete Robot Starting Positions, or one large one split into two parts? At all times within the RSP, the robot would fit in the 11x20x15 starting configuration boundaries.

[nnolte]

Does “any legal Starting Position” also mean, if an operator chooses to handle the robot once the Programming Skills Challenge has begun, the robot may be placed in any orientation or position within the Robot Starting Position area as defined by Figures 2 & 11, or must the robot be returned to the specific location, orientation, and position from which it began the Programming Skills Challenge?

“Any legal starting position” means either starting zone in any legal configuration. It can change every time it is handled, as long as it is a legal starting position.

For example, can the robot start at the right RSP, make some autonomous moves, then be re-set to the left RSP?

Yes.

Or could it be re-set across the RSPs, facing sideways (but still fully within the pink boundaries of the greater RSP as shown in Figure 2)?

No.

Are there two discrete Robot Starting Positions, or one large one split into two parts?

There are two discrete robot starting positions, not one large one.