This is why scouting is so important, but it’s been over looked because so many robots play the same strategies and are so similar (at least for TT)
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It’s legal, it’s like if you put a giant hoop around, this is smaller, but still not grasping the field element
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Don’t be too quick to say that…
I have bold and emphasized the part that are crucial.
Always look at the intention of the rule - this will give you some hints on how GDC will rule on all these grey-areas.
I will imagine that after dropping off the cage, it will still be attached to the robot minimally by a string (?).
And as the robot continues to move around the playing field and/or when the opponents try to push past the taut string/wire, I can imagine there is a possibility that the cage can be ruled as “anchoring”.
Just to share 2 incidents that my teams experienced so far:
- Star Struck
In june, SingVex - my students decided on shooting a long wall out, in between the fence across the opponents’ side of the field and have the other end of the wall pushed against the field perimeter at the opponents’ side. Intention is to split the opponents’ side into 2. and just dumped all the stars into one-half.
Technically it will only be pushing against one side of the field perimeter. But it was ruled illegal by GDC.
- In the Zone
Again, in June SingVex - the rule then was that the robot can expand up till 36" in diameter.
We were like - great… just do a mini-wallbot and blocked out the entire scoring zone!
2 days before SingVex - GDC changed it to 24".
As i mentioned, I do like this idea… but I do think it is better to get an official reply from GDC on this matter.
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The string would not be pulled taut. You can see in the reveal that it’s on a fairly large spool, like how Ben from 224x did his wall in tower takeover. Thus, it would not be anchoring or grappling. I also do not think it would be considered a threat to damaging the field in any way
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sigh… if you looked at the 1st incident that i mentioned - you will notice that my teams’ idea was not breaking any rules at all.
but it was still ruled illegal.
And really… if there are too much excess of the string lying around, it might cause entanglement as well.
so either way, it might still be called out.
Just don’t be stubborn - get an official ruling and you will be covered for the rest of the season.
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Of course. This will likely be addressed in a QnA, but for the time being as the rules stand, it is legal. Grant Cox also mentioned he wanted more cap bots, and since descoring from the top isn’t even legal, this is the closest thing to that. Thus, the GDC might let it be.
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Pushing the cage is pinning though. And forcing a penalty.
I think this robot is foul， follow the G16 rules: Don’t clamp your Robot to the field.
This machine may also count as a drop bulk disposal.
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If every team made such robots, the game would not be played.
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Pushing the cage will not be pinning for this case, as the main robot will still be running around and not trapped at all.
And also don’t forget - this design will most likely be considered as a sort of wallbot.
So that will means that it will not have G12 protection (if it is ruled as a wallbot).
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I agree here. I think it’s a wonderful idea, but unfortunately am skeptical about its legality. Guess we’ll wait for the Q and A!
Will it cause problems for your lift if it’s only being powered on one side?
This screen cap confused me, so I tried it on my phone and got the same. Not sure why the app doesn’t allow a blue score over 16, but there are 18 spots for the blue balls in the 6 available goals. Am I missing something?
There are only 16 balls of each colour in the game.
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Dur, thanks…
How heavy would the cage be? Because if you are able to lift it over the goal and drop it, surely another team’s tray lift robot could lift it up and remove it from the goal.
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Here’s my take on the ruling: Right now it’s unclear, but it will probably be ruled legal through the Q&A, but with a downside.
If it’s not touching, then it isn’t in violation of SG9. If an opponent pushes the goal into a wall, then this is still fine through G14. But after the robot backs away, that’s where it becomes ambiguous. Last year (if I remember correctly, I’m too lazy to actually scroll through), there was a Q&A on the ruling of your opponent pushing you into your opponent’s goal zone. You would not be breaking any rules due to the protection from G14, but you must immediately make a clear attempt to escape. I’m predicting that it will be ruled the same for this season. So if an opponent slides your wall into the zone, you must make an immediate clear effort to push it back so that it’s not touching anything, or else you can be DQ’ed.
But idk don’t quote me on this, I could be wrong. Just see what the Q&A says really
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This robot may become the champion
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You cant build the cage too heavy, or Your robot may roll over
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Sorry if someone has already mentioned this, but I feel like blocking off the middle goal will have unintended consequences, even if it is legal. In the case that there are opposing alliance colored balls in the center goal when it is blocked off, your robot is in possession of those balls and (if there are 2) then (especially with the four bar tray design) you’re going to not be able to hold more than 1 more ball of the opposing alliance’s color. This might make cycling slow. In the case that you have ownership of the middle goal with say 2 or 3 balls placed, you have just removed 3 of your balls from matchplay. With 16 balls and 27 (unless someone gets really fancy with scoring) available positions, leaving even 2 of your balls puts you at only slightly more than 1 ball per goal. We haven’t seen many full reveals where we can see what the really competitive cycle times will be, but in my opinion, I would want those 2 or 3 balls available over the benefit of blocking off the center goal.
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