Re: Question about losing bumpers during a match?
 

Since bumpers are supposed to be robustly attached, it would have to be very egregious behavior to earn a penalty for causing someone's bumpers to come off.

I cannot judge the referees decision from a distance. The only option for him after the end of a match would be to call a replay. Maybe he didn't feel the incident effected the match enough to replay it.

Re: Question about losing bumpers during a match?
 

I remember watching video from Groton of 230. They took a hard hit near the end of a match and their bumper fell off. They were immediately disabled by the refs. It did not really affect the match though, as there were only about 10 seconds left.

Edit: I found the video http://www.thebluealliance.com/match/2014ctgro_qm15 It was an early qualification match at Groton.

Re: Question about losing bumpers during a match?
 

Unless an opponent bot used a ratchet wrench to unbolt those bumpers, I wouldn't expect any G14 tech fouls :p

Re: Question about losing bumpers during a match?
 

Video of the match in question can be found at:
http://new.livestream.com/nefirst/me-pinetree

Around 2:56:32 with ~25 seconds left in finals match 3.

Off the cuff, to me, it doesn't look like it would have impacted the final outcome of the match, but one full corner bumper piece falls off of one of the red alliance robots, which proceeds to remain active until the end of the match.

Re: Question about losing bumpers during a match?
 

The issue with the rule that goes beyond refs not knowing the rules is how the rule is enforced. For a robot to be disabled a ref needs to go to the driver station and use the E-stop button. I speak from experience on this, my team lost a bumper during a match and we just stopped driving because we knew we needed to be disabled and waited around. After 15-20 seconds a ref showed up hit the E-stop and then walked away. He then came back after the match to explain why he did this we (the drive team) understood and then continued on.


There was a conversation about this issue earlier in the season that if a team lost their bumper towards the end of the match (less than 30 seconds) the robot wouldn't be disabled because it took a while to get a robot disabled.

Re: Question about losing bumpers during a match?
 

The head ref can also turn around and have the scorers disable the robot via the FMS.

Re: Question about losing bumpers during a match?
 

This was the method we used at both the events I reffed.

Re: Question about losing bumpers during a match?
 

It also only takes 5 seconds to run down the entire length of the field, even with people in the way. I learned this the hard way this past weekend.

Re: Question about losing bumpers during a match?
 

Now that I have been a Ref, I can appreciate the 2" bumper zone. If any part of the bumper contacts the field (a clear violation of the 2" rule), then it is a disable per G20. Either a Ref hits the e-stop, or the Head Ref asks Field Management to disable.

In my opinion, it would be very hard to get a G14 exception to the G20 rule. Bumpers are supposed to take a lot of abuse. More likely G27 would apply. If it got anywhere close to a G14, then a G27 Yellow Card.

Re: Question about losing bumpers during a match?
 

Yeah, that's how it worked in Windsor. In Montreal, they did it by e-stop. I think it's just a matter of the FTA and scorekeeper's preference.

Either way, I like to make sure that a team knows why they were deactivated as soon as possible, usually by asking the FTA to run over and let them know. Sometimes, things get in the way of that, though... like if the FTA is already busy helping a team when the deactivation occurs.