Re: Are The Penalties Too High?
 

The penalites for this years game are absolutely perfect. Basically anything that is considered breaking the rules is a 10 point penalty, a very easily dealt with defecit. The only one that could be deemed "unfair" is the 30 pt loading zone penalty. BUT THAT PENALTY MUST EXIST. You cannot have a robot slamming into a robot that is being loaded on by a human player just inches from it. That penalty is perfectly legit in my opinion.

Re: Are The Penalties Too High?
 

yes, they are high but I wouldn't go as far to say that they are ruining it, and I feel that some penalties are necessary for safety's sake; however, when a team inadvertently bumps into a robot on the human player loading zone, that is very frustrating. I like the game, but I do think that if the human player's safety was such an issue, perhaps they should have created a new task, versus dealing out 30-point penalties. Then again, I think the human player's have a great role this year.

I was thinking (this would be rather strange though) that they could have created a zone like a rectangular extension to the field that way the robot would have to drive into it to get loaded, and it would be clearly difficult for an opposing robot to come in contact with the one being loaded. Just an idea...

Re: Are The Penalties Too High?
 

The penalties are not too high but they are very inconsistent. At the Midwest Regional, one match team 79 was dogging this team all match, no penalty, but the very next match they did a little pushing, not nearly as much as the first match, and got disabled or a 30 pointer (i can't remember that) for being too rough. The refs are some times too quick with the calls and sometimes not quick enough. In my opinion I think that FIRST, for nationals for the refs, hold classes on when and when not to call penalties.



oh yea and by the way.............my team DOES NOT HAVE ANT PENALTIES!!!!!!!!!

Re: Are The Penalties Too High?
 

As much as it is disappointing to lose an entire match over penalties, it does reinforce some crucial aspects of the game. 1) Safety first and to quote Ricky Q., 2) A good driver will always win over a good robot.
Everyone needs to remember to take their time. The only two times that I ever received human player penalties (and I'm sure Brian Beatty could tell you this one... :( ) were at BMR when I began rushing my actions in the quarter- and semi- finals.
Even though the matches are relatively short, taking that extra milisecond to make sure that your feet are in the box or that your hands are off the tetra before you leave it can determine an entire match. Likewise, as a driver, taking the extra precaution to avoid the loading zones or stopping a defensive maneuver on the count of 5 rather than 6 can make a huge difference.
Patience is key.

Re: Are The Penalties Too High?
 

There is no way they are too high. I would like to point out however, that we've only accrued 1 penalty so far, so that could be a bias. I've actually seen a situation at Palmetto where a human player was loading a robot when another robot hit it(the team that was hit was our alliance partner, and as a human player I had a good view.) Luckily, this robot wasn't one that had an arm that extended out of the field to load, if it had that human player could have been hit pretty hard. The mere chance of getting hit by a robot is a pretty scary one, I hope it doesn't happen to anyone.

P.S. One of the reasons we stay away from penalties is because we have to do 30 push-ups for every penalty.