Penalties
 

Were penalties given out for teams that attempted to pick up a tetra from the auto-loader , but were not touching the "target" triangle (the autoloader zone) in front of it? If so, how common were these penalties?

Re: Penalties
 

Yes, they were given one ten point penalty for each instance they occurred.

This situation happened far less than human player zone violations.

Re: Penalties
 

We found out about this the Thursday of Sacromento. I don't believe FIRST really clarified what being in the auto loader was. Many teams (including us) ended up putting zipties or string that dragged on the ground when we found out about this rule. Otherwise they would be stratling the zone, not touching it, and would recieve a 10 point penalty.

Re: Penalties
 

While we're on the subject, what were some of the most common penalties? I (and I'm sure others) would like to be able to warn our drivers for our regional. :)

Re: Penalties
 

Make sure your robot is touching the colored triangle in the human player and or manual loading station. We were over top of the area straddling the triangle but noting was touching because we have a 2.5" ground clearance, but this problem was easily fixed with zip ties. But if the human player doesn't put the tetra on the robot and runs back with the tetra and allows the driver to correct it you won't get a penaltie but it takes up a lot of time to do so, so get it right the first time and you will have no problems. That was the most common penaltie for us.

Re: Penalties
 

Are there any rules regarding how far the robot must back away from either the HP or Auto loading zones before re-entering the loading zone to recieve an second tetra? Or is it only necessary to back away far enough so the ref can see that you have left the loading zone?

Re: Penalties
 

You must move out of the loading zone such that you are clearly and obviously not touching the loading zone. Then you may re-enter.

Re: Penalties
 

Our alliance recieved a 30 point penality in the final match for interferring with a robot in the Hu Loading Zone. Thinking now about it, complaining to the head ref in the match before where that happend to us maybe wasn't that smart ^^ since she said: "Ok I'm going to watch out for this from now on" which she then did :rolleyes: .

Overall the penalities where always justified but unfourtanly not constantly used.