ELEVATED but not hanging?
 

Someone sanity check me on this. I just did a double take on closely reading the ELEVATED definition:It's missing the "and only in contact with the TOWER" or "only supported by the TOWER" that I've been conditioned to expect. By my reading, a robot sitting on top of another robot, 21" off the ground, and touching the TOWER = ELEVATED. I can't see anything that argues against this. I'm Q&A-ing it, but it seems legal to me at the moment. Comments?

NB: So a triple-stack of robots near a tower could = 5 points?

Re: ELEVATED but not hanging?
 

I'll add to what you said and say that the robot on top reaches out to touch the tower (otherwise it's not elevated).

Re: ELEVATED but not hanging?
 

Followup that I also Q&A-ed. SUSPENDED says only touching an ELEVATED/SUSPENDED ROBOT. I'm now curious if an otherwise SUSPENDED robot is downgraded if it touches the TOWER. Sure makes things harder, doesn't it?

Re: ELEVATED but not hanging?
 

How it is currently stated, that is the only interpretation that I can see. That extra point (in comparison to hanging from the tower) is for hanging off of another robot, so they have to make it so you can't just hang off the tower and touch another robot.

Re: ELEVATED but not hanging?
 

I believe you would only get 2 points for that strategy since the middle robot is touching the bottom robot, and therefor not SUSPENDED by the top robot. This means the bottom and middle robots would not receive any bonus points, but the top robot would receive 2. Does that make sense.

Re: ELEVATED but not hanging?
 

Oh-o. But you're reading your standard, everyday, common sense definition of SUSPENDED into things. This is Breakaway we're talking about. If you have a stack of 3 vertical robots, the middle one is 21" up and touching the tower, and the top one is only touching the middle one... Then I think the middle one is ELEVATED, and the top one is SUSPENDED, as it's only touching the ELEVATED robot below it. (Yes, I just said a robot was suspended by another robot below it. I didn't write the rules.)

Re: ELEVATED but not hanging?
 

All I know is that I would not want the risk of being the 'top bot' in a 3-robot stack. That's a fantastic catch nonetheless Kevin; I wonder if that interpretation is within their intent and thus will hold up without change.

Re: ELEVATED but not hanging?
 

Safe to say don't set your robot up for this, but if you find out that you can all the way bro

Re: ELEVATED but not hanging?
 

I have been debating this for some time (last few days) and the video (although I am told NOT to trust which is SUPPOSED to give an understanding of the game) does show it not once, but twice that being on the platform is considered elevated. If it is, then a triple stack would be worth 8 points, considering a plane is a flat surface that has generally no thickness, but if is not, then it is worth only 5 points as you said.

Re: ELEVATED but not hanging?
 

The triple stack mentioned is near the tower, not on the platform. To clarify (how I read it), you have a robot that drives up next to the platform that has for example a flat surface on it and it deploys a ramp. A robot gets on top of it (touches the tower), and somehow another robot puts itself on top of that one (and is not touching the tower). This would be one elevated, one suspended, for 5 points.

Re: ELEVATED but not hanging?
 

That was my thinking, yes. Slightly more practical implementation probably has the top bot mount the middle bot and then the middle bot mount the base bot. This only brings it down to about 10.5 on the 11 point scale of complete insanity, of course. I'm not proposing that this makes much sense, but it IS an interesting insight into the rules. Well, that and the somewhat warped workings of my brain.

Re: ELEVATED but not hanging?
 

Another interesting way to think about suspended is this:

Let's say robot 1 is elevated such that the bottom of the robot is at 24" by doing a pull-up on one of the horizontal bars on the tower. It now "sticks out its tongue (made of LEXAN, of course) and lays on the platform. If it stays within the 85 inches and another robot drives on the platform and is only on the LEXAN, then that robot is SUSPENDED and worth 3 points. The totla for that maneuver is 5 points.

Re: ELEVATED but not hanging?
 

Were you listening in on our design meetings?

Re: ELEVATED but not hanging?
 

On the other hand, if one of your wires hangs down under the platform, you get no points. Just sayin'

Re: ELEVATED but not hanging?
 

The scary thing is, I've read all of the rules and what you guys are suggesting *is* legal (so far). Keep up the good work, and I love the Lexan idea, I'm bringing it up in our meeting tomorrow.