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Hi Matt and all the other teams coming to the West Michigan Regional this week. No, I am not Natalie,but Natalie graciously allowed me to respond to this very controversial issue through her user name. I will be the Head Referee at the West Michigan Regional this week and I would like to take this time to inform all the teams coming to the WMR how our Ref team will be intepreting the rule of interaction of robots with tethered send home devices. First, the Head Refs have had two teleconferences about reffing this year. Carpet damage and entanglement have been the two most discussed areas of concern. We update after every regional and try to tweek the process to improve the consistancy in the calls. We have been very concerned with making our decisions consistant from regional to regional. BUT, we are human and mistakes are made and, I know, some of them hurt bad. Believe me, Refs also agonize over missed/bad calls but the game goes on. I can tell you that we try our absolute best to make what we feel is the right call at the moment. I know every Ref at the WMR has a passion for this program, and wants to see every team succeed. I believe every Ref crew in every Regional feels the same way. Got off on a tangent here. I'll get off my soapbox and get back to the point. The interaction between robots and send home devices will be treated the same as the interaction between robots. After all, the device is just an extension of the robot. This means that a team is allowed to block, push, pull, and this year FIRST is allowing robots to lift another robot and carry them to their own scoring zone if they so desire. But, remember, that if you decide to lift another robot/send home device that your team has taken on a special duty of care for that robot that you are carrying. It will be a ref's call if there is damage to the robot on whether they feel the damage was intentional/malicious or a weak robot design (grey area-tough call). Generally, with this type of call, the refs will get together and discuss the situation and make a call based on the conference. Anyway, the tethered mini-bots will be considered an extension of the robot and will be treated under the same rules as the robot. I hope that this explanation of the rules interpretation helps and doesn't just add more confusion to this controversial area. If you have any further questions pertaining to this issue or any other rules interpretation, do not hesitate to contact me, Larry Lowell, at the regional this week and I will be glad to answer your questions. I will be at the event all day Thursday helping with inspections, so look me up if you have any questions/issues. Good Luck to all and I look forward to seeing the action at the West Michigan Regional. I'd like to add, as a spectator at the Motorolla Midwest Regional last week, some of the most exciting parts of the match were when the minibots and tongues were trying to get to the end zones to score 10 points!!
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