Scoring Zone

I have a rule clarification question: The rules state the bot can not touch the scoring zone or the goal (easy enough). The definition of the scoring zone is: “The section of the field that is bounded by the inner edge of the Fence and the inner edges of the field walls.” So is the scoring zone just the floor or is it the vertical plane extending up from that area of the field? If it is just the floor, then I see teams reaching over to score (assuming they abide by the no extension past 13x20 rule). If it is the vertical plane, this will encourage more shooting.

Not Official: I think the key word is “touching”. It does not say “Entering”.

If it said “Entering the scoring zone”, that would include the space above the floor.

Steve

I agree with Steve, since it says touching you should be able to enter the scoring zone as long as you don’t physically touch it.

If you read the game manual for “Nothing But Net” (VRC 2015-16 game) on page 15 in SG9, they say “Robots may not enter (i.e. break the plane) of any Goal.” This is different than the way the scoring zone is word in the “Bank Shot” game manual, so by this logic; it is ok to hang over the scoring zone (as long as the overall size of the robot stays within the 20" x 13" size limit.

Paul, the size limit is at starting… the robots can grow afterwards beyond the size limit.

The robot may only expand vertically after start…

Ref guide p.9: Robots MAY NOT expand beyond the 13” x 20” at ANY time, but MAY expand beyond 15” tall after the start of a match.

Up is all we need :wink:

This is what Karthik said:

Originally posted by nathanpitts2002 View Post I was wondering if it is legal to touch the lower fence poll on purpose for extended periods of time and break the vertical plane of the of the scoring zone. Or is the rule more like vex “Nothing But Net” in which you cannot break the vertical plane of the goal fence.
Let’s take a look at rule <G11> in the VEX IQ Challenge Bank Shot Game Manual.

Originally posted by VEX IQ Challenge Bank Shot Game Manual
<G11> Robots may not make contact with either the Scoring Zone or the Goal.

There are no rules prohibiting robots from touching the fence. There are also no rules prohibiting robots from breaking the plane of the Scoring Zone. We expect both to occur often.

During our recent event, teams sometimes accidentally touched the scoring zone floor while depositing balls over the fence. If it was an occasional momentum shift and occurred after the ball was released, we deemed it as minor and not affecting scoring, They were warned to not repeat it in future matches. On two occasions, robots seemed designed to touch during their drop and we warned them in-match during their first match and had them go back to redesign and correct the issue.