Re: Time-Outs, Give it or keep it?
 

My strategy just took a full time-out to fix.;)

If they had said straight out, "you can't call a timeout so your opponent can repair their robots", there would be a massive protest. They are trying to stay on schedule, hence the "no cascading timeouts."

Also, if they really wanted to be explicit... I could, if I wanted to, hurt my opponent, even though they called the TO. (I don't want to.) Legally. "Their repairs" only refers to "an alliance", not "the calling alliance". Again, I wouldn't use this.

Re: Time-Outs, Give it or keep it?
 

i heard a quote during the volenteer video on wednesday

"FIRST students compete like crazy on the field and respect each other off the field"

This, is an on the field issue. so my team NEEDS to stay competitive. The other alliance has a few options to work with

+bring in a backup bot
+go with 2 bots

I agree with the point where if your robot isn't robust enough to survive then it shouldn't be in the elimination rounds

the part thats really going to disturb me is when teams EXPECT the other team to call TimeOuts for them...

Re: Time-Outs, Give it or keep it?
 

In my opinion, there is no however. In the interest of fair play, we must adhere to the obvious intent of the rule. It does not matter that the cause is noble, nor whether we agree with the rule, nor whether we’ll feel good about ourselves by going against it, nor whether we feel that little white lies are different from big dark ones.

It is a very slippery slope we’re on when we decide to violate the rule. A team could break down in the quarterfinals, take their time out, and then be awarded another one match later by the opposing alliance. They could enjoy the same gift in the semifinals and finals for a total of 24 minutes to repair their machine. Meanwhile, another team that was not as well known or well liked could break down and have just the six minutes allowed by the rules, maybe because their opponents had already given their time out away. The only way to insure that each and every team has the same opportunity is to obey the rule. If you want to be fair, then be fair to us all.

Re: Time-Outs, Give it or keep it?
 

They did say that straight out.

Re: Time-Outs, Give it or keep it?
 

And there were complaints until someone pointed out that you can call it to repair your own robots. Same effect, different methods.

And it isn't enforced under the new method.

Re: Time-Outs, Give it or keep it?
 

I'm not agreeing or disagreeing with anyone

However what eric is implying is that YOU can call your timeout, if the opposing team happens to work on their bots during YOUR timeout, then good for them.


Again I am not agreeing or disagreeing with anyone here.

Re: Time-Outs, Give it or keep it?
 

A huge part of the finals is the back to back matchs. That is a real test of a robots durablity and quality. Also calling time-outs may be a sign of professionalism but it delays the event itself.

Re: Time-Outs, Give it or keep it?
 

Personally (not speaking for my team here), I would likely call the time out 1. if it was deamed legal by the refs - it seems to depend on how you read the rule, and 2. If our teams robot was in good working shape (ie if we had been having troubles with our gripper and anticipated that we might need it later, I might reckon that we keep it), and 3. If it was certain that they could fix it and couldnt or didnt call the backup robot.

My question is, that some people seem to be referring to a 2vs3 situation, did it end up too late to call in the backup robot? In FLR, one of the teams broke and they brought in a backup robot, and while I realize its sometimes hard to judge how long it might take to fix something, I would think if its getting down to time to not be able to call the backup robot, if you werent sure its much safer to call them in. But its always hard in the heat of battle.

Re: Time-Outs, Give it or keep it?
 

I believe they made the gutsy decision that, despite being down 1 game, they would go without the team captain's robot rather than call up the reserves.

Re: Time-Outs, Give it or keep it?
 

We did make that call. We looked at the previous match when we only lost by 6 even when it was 2v3 because 27 had transmission issues during the match. We as an alliance made the call that it was not worth bringing in the backup when they would be running in the next match if we won. We only won because of penalties but it was a gutsy choice and it really payed off. It would have been almost impossible to move on without 27.:)