[audietron]

Originally Posted by Ginger Power

A very similar thing happened in the North Star Semi-finals match 3 where the side panel fell off. One of the primary scoring robots for the red alliance was trapped on the hook that sticks up from the panel (with a ball worth 40 points in them) and we were forced to declare a dead ball. The field fault directly caused the red alliance to lose the match, lose the Semi-final and prevented 2 of the 3 teams from likely going to the World Championships. There was no explanation given in that situation either until well after the regional was over. The head ref cited G10 saying the panel was declared "field debris" and the drivers were somehow supposed to be aware of and avoid the panel. The problem was that the robot knocked off the panel and got stuck on it in one movement similarly to how you describe this situation. I'm not sure how a broken aspect of the field that changes the outcome of the match is not considered a Field Fault but whatever. I'm sorry the same thing happened to your team and it prevented you from winning a match.

When we went to the question box we were told it was there for safety and not apart of the field. We sent a couple emails explaining that this can happen and letting FIRST know, hoping they would fix it. Sorry to hear it has happened once again. Hopefully it will be replayed from now on.