pic: Cutting it close at Capital City Classic finals
 

Re: pic: Cutting it close at Capital City Classic finals
 

I am by no means a judge, but I thought robots could be touching a scored stack, just not supporting it.

Re: pic: Cutting it close at Capital City Classic finals
 

That's what I thought as well, but the rules may have been different at this particular offseason tournament.

Re: pic: Cutting it close at Capital City Classic finals
 

The language of the rules says this, but also that if there's any ambiguity as to whether a robot is supporting a stack or merely touching it then it is to be assumed that the robot is supporting it.

Re: pic: Cutting it close at Capital City Classic finals
 

It was close enough that we needed a referee to get on the field and check that the totes were unsupported by nothing except the platform. To be safe, we generally made it a goal not to touch the totes at the end to avoid any "support or not support" dispute.

3.1.2.3 Teleop section from the Game Manual gives the definition of a scored tote: "A Gray TOTE is scored if it is fully supported by a SCORING PLATFORM and no portion of the TOTE extends above the top of the
BACKSTOP"

Re: pic: Cutting it close at Capital City Classic finals
 

The rules weren't any different, but if the robot was close enough to a stack, the refs would check it. There were quite a few nullified stacks.

Re: pic: Cutting it close at Capital City Classic finals
 

I have seen refs carefully move a robot by hand and watch for any movement in the stack that would indicate a supportive loading. That was several instances at two regionals I attended.

Re: pic: Cutting it close at Capital City Classic finals
 

At the end of the day it really depends on the refs. Some refs are willing to jump through elaborate hoops to decide whether or not to score a stack. Others however, will not count any tote in contact with a robot as scored.

Re: pic: Cutting it close at Capital City Classic finals
 

Most refs used the "contact" ruling. I commented to Frank on that, that I really didn't like that--if the head refs are going to enforce "support" as "contact" then the rules need to say "contact" and have done with it!


That being said, there's daylight there, so it counts (at least on that side).

Re: pic: Cutting it close at Capital City Classic finals
 

Being such a small district, we had basically the same ref crew at every competition and we saw a lot of this as well. I know what 1640 would do a lot in Archimedes is drive sideways onto the scoring platform and drop a stack and back up just a tiny bit so they weren't touching the stack. With the method they did, I have a feeling that they must have touched a stack at least once this season. So I'm sure they might know from experience.