Here are the relevant rules:
Quote:
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Originally Posted by 2016 Game Manual (As of Team Update 14)
G14 During AUTO, DRIVE TEAMS may not directly or indirectly interact with ROBOTS or OPERATOR
CONSOLES unless for personal safety, OPERATOR CONSOLE safety, or pressing an E-Stop for ROBOT safety.
Violation: FOUL and YELLOW CARD
G15 During AUTO, DRIVE TEAM members in the CASTLE may not contact anything in front of the STARTING LINE, unless for personal or equipment safety.
Violation: FOUL
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Hitting an E-Stop is specifically called out as okay in G14, and I think it falls under the general "safety" clause in G15 as well. I think that the rules only call out safety just in case somehow there would be some strategic reason to hit an E-Stop in auto rather than a "I need my robot turned off now" reason.
In practice, when I'm reffing an event, if you hit your E-Stop in auto, I'm not likely to ask any questions about why, and I'm certainly not going to call any penalties for it. I don't want any drive team to ever pause to think that they may be getting a penalty for it and hesitate when they need to be stopping their robot. If you ever think that you need to stop your robot for the match, hit the button already!
One side note: If you ever do use the E-Stop (in auto or not), after the match please turn the knob to pop the E-Stop back up. They can't prestart the next match until all E-Stops are up (which makes sense when you think about it).