[JeremyLansing]

Originally Posted by Tanis

Looking at the video again, it looks like the team caught the gap between the two sheets with their bumper, then drove forward and turned so that their robot was still moving into the gate at an angle. I wouldn't call that just a graze.

The other problem here seems to be that the drivers didn't notice the gate had come off. If they had seen that, they could have gone to the other goal to put the ball in.

I agree that what happened during the match was unfortunate. However, I agree with the ref in deciding that it was not a failure of the field.

I might not call it a graze, but I wouldn't call it a hard hit on the field either.
Part of section 2.1 in the game manual states "The ARENA is designed to withstand rigorous play and frequent shipping" I would not call this rigorous play by any stretch. I have seen far harder hit on the field that did not result in any noticeable effect. The fact that this field element did not stand up to what was in my opinion normal game-play indicates to me that it was a failure of the field due to a broken field component that affected the match outcome. To me, this is exactly the type of thing that T16 is there to prevent. G10 absolutely should not apply here as the blue box underneath clearly states "ROBOTS may push or react against any element of the FIELD." 2175 appeared to be "sidescraping" the field border to get their robot lined up with the low goal, something I have seen happen hundreds of times this year. What I haven't seen happen before is that panel coming off, which should have resulted in a T16 and a replay.