[Andy Baker]

This looks like a ramming situation to me. Looking at <G25> "ramming another ROBOT at high speed" would constitute "inappropriate robot interaction" and the referee's decision could result in a DQ of REDABOT.

15 ft/sec is pretty fast for FIRST robots. That is top speed, all out.

<G25> leaves everything up to the referee's discretion, and their call is final.

If I were the ref (and in this YMTC, that is what the thread is about), it would be a DQ. At this point of the competition, there most likely would be similar situations of ramming in previous matches. I, as a ref, would call those the same way, even if it is qualification match #1. The aim of a ref is to be fair and consistent. If they don't call ramming during the early matches, then they should not call it during the latter matches. Ramming, tipping and similar moves need to be called early and consistently. Precedents need to be set so that it is obvious that a situation like this, even if it is in the finals, would be a penalizing move.

In my opinion, a warning would not be appropriate, as long as this was called consistently throughout the weekend's competition.

DQ to Redabot. The tetra de-scoring by Blueabot is moot, as Redabot's team has 0 points due to the DQ.

Andy B.