Our team had an interesting rules discussion today. I don’t want to bother Karthik with this, but I figure the general community would get a kick out of it.
Upwards and infinitely. The running theories in Physics tell us that the universe is infinite. If you go out into space, infinitely, you will find infinite planets. And of those infinite planets, you will eventually come across planets that happened to form and play out exactly like the planet Earth. Of course, since any fraction out of infinity is still infinity, there are infinite planets like this. And on an infinite portion of those infinite Earths, there are an infinite number of robotics competitions, and in those infinite robotics competitions are an infinite number of Sack Attack fields and Sacks. With the goals projected infinitely out into space, an infinite number of Sacks meet the definition of Scored in the Troughs and High Goals, meaning that the score of both alliances is infinite, resulting in a never-ending tie.
How does a team win a match, then? Well sorry efficiency-bots with top-notch lifts; you won’t gain anything by lifting the sacks up. The only scoring definitions that aren’t affected by the infinite extraterrestrial sacks are the floor goals and the parking bonus.
Have fun pushing sacks and parking at Worlds, everyone! See you all at Intergalactics!
Well, the real question here is: are the mirror Earths exactly the same or are there minute differences. Is it the Mirror Universe like in Star Trek, or are they exact copies?
If it’s the Mirror Universe, then your assumption is correct. The ratio of a : x will always fluctuate because in one Earth, Alliance 1 will win. The next Earth might have Alliance 2 win. It’d be completely random. See Chaos Theory. One thing to tack on to this here is that the creation of the mirror Earth would be under just those slightly different conditions.
If it’s an exact copy, then it doesn’t matter. The ratio of scores is always going to be the same. ∞ₐ : ∞ₓ where a is score of one alliance and x is score of the other
But those sacks are unrelated, only game objects which started off in the game count. Otherwise, no theoretical physics needed, just bring your own sacks and put them on the roof prior to the match. Furthermore, given how earth is spinning, those sacks you mentioned aren’t scored for more than an instant, and they have to remain scored when all the robots are pulled away.
If we’re scoring with four dimensions (real space and time), then the dimension that describes which universe you’re in is not known, so the sacks are still technically in the same play area.
By your theory of Math, even the floor goals and parking are nothing, because you have to add them to that “infinite score of sacks on the infinite upward trough”, which again means the two alliance will both have infinite scores…
As a random question, would there be an uwritten rule on the maximum height of the playing field for itself, where they wouldn’t count sacks?
I was thinking this because since the goals extend upward infinitely, couldn’t you build a cannon/slingshot/catapult/yougetheidea that could shoot sacks and get them stuck in the ceiling above your trough, where they would count for you and would also be impossible to descore?
It would probably be the “common sense” rule. That and, I really don’t see a cannon/slingshot/whatever to be able to score fast enough for the impossible to descore part to matter…Not to mention, if it somehow manages to get to the finals at worlds, that is a pretty high ceiling.
I do not remember who said this, but some physicist said if you shoot a gun into the universe, the bullet will come and hit you in the back of the head.
If this is true, the sacks under the trough would also be counted as scored.
Thank goodness Karthik and the referees are well grounded and have read rule G1 which states “When reading and applying the various rules in this document, please remember that common sense always applies in the VEX Robotics Competition.”
Our team had troubles booking flights to the Intergalactics so we are simply attending the World Championships - hope to see you all there!
