Ramps extending outside of the home zone
 

Hi,

We have a question,
How does the lenght of the robot counts when it is open (with the ramp) and it is not only in the HomeZone?
it is a little bit outside the HZ...

Thank you,

Team #1690
Big Fishy

Re: Half in the HomeZone half in the field
 

your robot is bigger then the 72" box, and touches outside of the home zone just even a fraction of an inch that is a penalty.

Re: Half in the HomeZone half in the field
 

This was not the case at the Great Lakes Regional. Teams were only penalized if 72"x72" were outside of the end zone. Teams who were slightly outside the endzone were never penalized.

Can anyone who attended other regionals describe how this rule was enforced?

Re: Half in the HomeZone half in the field
 

At both Florida and Chesapeake, I saw flags thrown (or rather waved, now) for teams driving out of the home zone while beyond the 72" mark. If you went visibly beyond the line, in whole or in part, it was a flag.

Re: Ramps extending outside of the home zone
 

At the BMR if any team had its ramps down and crossed the HZ plane it got penalized. This happened more often than I would have guessed.

Re: Ramps extending outside of the home zone
 

In Pittsburgh, teams were penalized if any part of the offending robot broke the plane of the home zone while exceeding 72" in any direction...

Re: Ramps extending outside of the home zone
 

Except for accidental deployments, we had it happen both in St Louis and at Boilermaker and each time the ref didn't penalize us because we went straight into the home zone and it didn't affect the match at all.

It's a different story if you intentionally deploy and come out of the zone.

Re: Ramps extending outside of the home zone
 

At LA the rule was if you go outside 72" box outsideof the home zone, if you get to the home zone immediately and quickly or hit the E-stop button in the same fashion, you will not be penalized

Re: Ramps extending outside of the home zone
 

In Pittsburgh they nailed teams for accidental deployments outside the home zone, too.

Re: Ramps extending outside of the home zone
 

At MWR several teams were penalized if their ramps deployed to a size greater than 72" x 72" outside of the home zone, even by a fraction. They seemed to be watching for this pretty closely. Our single ramp was checked by the officials both during quals and elims for deployed size outside of home, but we did not have a problem.

Re: Ramps extending outside of the home zone
 

Sounds like various results to this call. Disapointing to the teams who lost thier chance at winning becuase of the call being more strict in one regional then the others.

Re: Ramps extending outside of the home zone
 

In Pittsburgh, our partner was out about 3 inches and we were penalized and also, our robot flipped on its back and about 6 inches of our arm was in the home zone of opponent and we were penalized for being there even after we disabled our robot.

Re: Ramps extending outside of the home zone
 

In KC if you crossed the HZ line you were penalized...every time you crossed. If you deployed and then adjusted and went back and forth 3 times ( even by an inch) you were flagged each time. If I saw it correctly.

Re: Ramps extending outside of the home zone
 

At UTC, the ruling was if the offending robot was 'unfolded' to more than 72 x 72 and any part of the robot "broke the plane" of the home zone, there was a 10 point penalty assesed.

We got called for it once. Our arm was horizontal, and breaking the plane by about 2-3 inches while our ramps were down. At no point was any part of the robot touching outside of the home zone, but broke the plane only.:(

Re: Ramps extending outside of the home zone
 

It seems the "outside just a little bit" ruling is in effect at most events. I'd agree this is the best way to call it. There can be no middle ground (since the YMTC discussion about the tube under the unsupporting ramp made that clear). Given the noted discrepancy in ref calls at a few earlier events, I'm guessing/hoping FIRST is adding this to their list of conference call reminders to the head refs this week.

Clear out plenty of room before deploying. The 33, 47, 71, 180 etc. style ramps are most likely having the most difficulties avoiding penalties of this nature. Hybrids watch your arm placement as well.