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Unread 12-01-2002, 21:34
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Raul Raul is offline
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Angry Remember the Tipping Rule?

Remember the tipping rule? For those that do not remember (how could you forget) or for those who were not yet in FIRST, I will explain.

In 1997 one team was smart enough to figure out that there was no rule against tipping. The rest of us either did not realize this or were too innocent to think it was alright to do it to a fellow competitior. Anyway, this team caused a great stir with their "innovation". It gave them a great advantage to be able to eliminate contenders and just go about their business of scoring unabated.

The next year, everyone asked FIRST if this was to be allowed. Many complained and FIRST then realized that many robots would add such a tipping device. The competition would turn into a massacre where many robot would get tipped and lots of bad feelings created. So , they made it illeagal to have any device that had the specific purpose of tipping a robot.

Now with this new game, the scoring rules reward you when you can get a robot where it does not want to be. It is no longer just a defensive move to prevent scoring, it is also a potential offensive move that gets you more points.

I understand that in the qualifying rounds you want to allow your opponent to get points. But in the elimination rounds, winning is all that counts. Thus grabbing and holding an opponent robot in your home zone not only reduces their score, it also increases yours. You all realize this already.

If FIRST thinks that this is OK, then why do they not allow pinning? They realize that two robots stuck in a corner is no fun for anyone. Is it any more fun to be stuck in the middle of the field? If two robots get tangled together accidently, then no big deal. But to do it purposely?

Allowing pulling, dragging or lifting robots off the ground to kidnap them to your home zone will lead to a lot of bad feelings (perception of non- gracious professional behavior). Is that what we want? I hope not.
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Warning: this reply is just an approximation of what I meant to convey - engineers cannot possibly use just written words to express what they are thinking.
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