Re: Automated Loading Zones?
 

this reminds me of a certain game many years ago (before i even knew about first) where the rule said to put a ball through a hoop to score and people just stood at the hoops putting the ball through and back, through and back...

Re: Automated Loading Zones?
 

It seems that everyone is overlooking one major advantage to human player loading.

the human player can load the robot !
the atendant can load a platform !

any thoughts???

Re: Automated Loading Zones?
 

Well there are advantages to both. The attendant will definitely be faster because your not disabled in that time, but the human player places it directly onto you. You make the call :-P

Re: Automated Loading Zones?
 

Don't forget this too - the field attendant will reload the auto zone when it is SAFE. So, yes, they should be relatively quick, but if you have an arm sticking out, or there is some other robot flailing around wildly in that area, causing potential harm to people outside the field, then the field attendant may not be as prompt. They're not going to risk getting hurt just to load your zone as you sit waiting.

Re: Automated Loading Zones?
 

The big advantage of the auto loading stations is on your human players legs, especially if you want to repeatedly get tetras... :p
It all depends on your robot design really.

Re: Automated Loading Zones?
 

Is it legal, though, to grab a tetra from an automated loading zone, back off and wait for the refil, then take that same tetra back outside the field to grab another one with it? The rules state that any tetras outside of the playing field will no longer be counted, but your always touching it..?

Re: Automated Loading Zones?
 

I don't fully understand what you mean by "wait for the refill, then take that same tetra back outside the field to grab another one with it".... You can keep your first tetra, and pick up another one, so long as you left the load zone, and came back.
Tetras outside the field will be put back into loading stations for future use... so it's not like the small balls from last year where they were out of play after leaving the field..... if you dump a bunch tetras outside, they can come back in eventually..

Re: Automated Loading Zones?
 

The tetras on the ALZs are considered on the field per <S 02> Italics added for emphasis.
Wetzel

Re: Automated Loading Zones?
 

They are supposed to reload as "continuously" as possible, but they are not automatic, and there will be a large amount of human factor. How close are the tetras to load? How fast is the person loading them? What if two tetras get stuck together when the person loads?

This could be a problem, depending on how the game ends up being played.

Re: Automated Loading Zones?
 

the rule states that at the beginning of the match only one team on the alliance can hold only one tetra at a time..i dont see anything about holding more than one during play..the question is on first q&a and at this point has yet to be answered