Assist System explained
 

Hey Chief Delphi forums! I was a little confused by all the different plays and how exactly the assists are counted, so I decided to try and figure out for myself a set of rules for the assist system.

As said in the video detailing the assist plays, the system will count assists/possessions in the way that gives the play the most points. A robot is given an assist point when it is able to be assigned its own unique zone with no other robots. In order to do this, the system will find a robot/robots that has its own unique zone and nullify the other possessions by that robot in order to give other robots their own unique zone.

In addition, balls from the autonomous period cannot gain assist points, even during teleop. This is because assists are scored during a cycle, and the balls from autonomous are not part of a cycle due to not starting on the pedestal. Try to score them during autonomous so you aren't occupied with a dead ball during teleop. (thanks MasterEric)

Re: Assist System explained
 

This seems to match exactly with the manual's "ASSISTS are earned when a unique ALLIANCE ROBOT POSSESSES the ALLIANCE’S BALL in a unique ZONE (i.e. red, white, or blue ZONE) during a CYCLE." My conclusion from this quote is that the Rule of Thumb is: count the number of unique robot-zone pairs. That's the number of assists.

Re: Assist System explained
 

Thank you! This really helps clarify the rule system. The main thing I was confused about was how a robot could get an assist point when other robots also had a possession in that zone.

Re: Assist System explained
 

One thing you should make note of in your post:
As mentioned in the post Autonomous Assist, since the balls that the bots were given during auto were never on the pedestal, they never completed a full cycle. Thus:
a) You cannot score assist points with autonomous balls.
b) You should try to score those non-assistible autonomous balls during autonomous so you can spend as much time during teleop as possible getting assists.

Re: Assist System explained
 

Done! Thank you very much.

Re: Assist System explained
 

I'm just commenting to come back

Re: Assist System explained
 

The game should have been called Aerial "Possession"

They are using the term assist in a new way and not like it is used in sports

It is best to think of possession rather than assist.

For a team to get one assist one team has to have possession of the ball in one of the zones...

For two assists, 2 teams need to have had possession in two separate zones

For three assists 3 teams need to have had possessions in three separate zones.

It is pretty simple if you look at it this way...

One team can only get credit for a single possession and you have to have separate teams possess the ball in separate zones..

The assisting that will be done will be by robots that help other alliance robots to possess the ball in a zone that does not have an alliance robot possessing the ball already.

I think it will be played like this:

ball starts in end zone... hopefully a robot possesses it there...
it moves forward either by being carried or not... the ball is passed to another robot in either of the other two zones... and now two robots have had possession in two zones... now the only thing left to do is to recognize which robot has not possessed the ball and what zone needs that possession for the bonus... then the ball is scored...bam and you get 31 or 40 points..

I believe the alliance will rely on the monitor to see when the referees have indicated possession and then go back and fill in to get the bonuses...if necessary...the indication of possession should be real time but you must not rely on your OWN idea of what possession is but rather when the referee has seen it and recorded it.

If all three teams possess in all three zones you will get the big bonus... if a single separate team possesses in each of the zones you get the big bonus...

I think the monitor will have to be watched closely to determine when to go in for a score.

It is really nice that the GDC thought to put this monitor in a place where the alliance can really use it...

Re: Assist System explained
 

Ive come to the same conclusion, and agree that assist would be better explained as possession. I believe the confusion with my team was with the video explanation (I wasnt watching, rather looking at the rules i had just decrypted). I hope this can be fully explained in the Q and A.

Re: Assist System explained
 

my big assist question:

Robot 1 in Red passes to Robot 2 in white. Robot 2, still in white, then passes back to Robot 1, now in blue. Robot 1 has no possession while in white. Would this count for the 3 assist rule? :confused:

Re: Assist System explained
 

as far as the confusion with the term 'assist', I just think that instead of saying 1,2,3 assists, it should be labeled as 0,1,2 assists, as one bot going for the goal does not involve any 'assistance.' Handing off to a 2nd bot is then 1 'assist,' and a 3rd bot is then a 2nd 'assist.' ... yeah, confusing term to use...

Re: Assist System explained
 

Ok...a question from my students yesterday still "sticks in my craw"....

"If we're playing for max points in combination and assists, how are individual teams ranked for finals at the regional?" My question is how many refs will be needed to work three different teams, three areas, marking assists, calculating points in the hot zones as they come up hot, etc.? I'm just an AP teacher but I see a lot of Swiss Cheese holes and massaging of the rules. But...that's just one prole's opinion.

Re: Assist System explained
 

Please correct me if I am wrong as this is the core of my confusion:
This would not constitute the 3 assist, because robot 1 initiated the first assist and is thus no longer eligible for additional assist participation (no longer "unique robot/zone pair")

Re: Assist System explained
 

The possession information is also shown using the light strings right in front of that robots driver's https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qc-a7-sxs4Q. But I agree that it will be important to make sure to not give the ball up until the light's you expect turn on.

Re: Assist System explained
 

Well, to answer myself... after watching the Assist Analysis video over, and over again... this would NOT be a 3 assist, only 2. "Assists will never be granted for possessions that share either a row, or a column." Since the 2 Robot 1 possessions share a column, this would not count as an assist.

Re: Assist System explained
 

As far as tracking assists goes, the answer is three (or even two, since there are only two balls in play at any one time which matter for assists). One ref watches each zone and taps a screen to note when a robot takes possession of a ball in that zone. The computer keeps track of the accounting.

If one ref is assigned to each ball, they have to not only note when a robot gains possession, but which color zone this happens in.

I expect there will actually be two refs that track assists on the ref touchscreens, and the user interface will look much like the 3x3 matrix in figure 3-4, except with team numbers across the top instead of 1,2 and 3. They just need to tap one of nine squares whenever a new robot gains possession of the ball. Not really that hard, when there are so few other fouls for refs to look out for.