[Erin Rapacki]

Have any of you read Update #13 yet? I think most of these issues are addressed (working off memory here, the current computer I'm on won't open .pdf files).

I was one of the referees with Benge at the UTC scrimmage last weekend and we did notice a lot of inconsistency in regards to how to call penalties, what should be called, what shouldn't, what needs to be changed, and what needs to be more clear in the head referee handbooks. After the scrimmage the seven of us sat down together to reach a consensus about what had happened that day and how it could/should be changed. From what's written in update #13 and my personal experience; I believe that there will be fewer penalties called during the Regional Events and that this specific situation should be less of a concern.

The concept behind the increasing the size of the Human Player loading zone was a matter of safety (from what I recognized). I was one of the referees to bring up the concern that if we must enforce a "two feet in HP Loading Zone" concept, with the previous configuration, we would be forcing the human players to be closer in proximity to their robot than they need to be. Many robots were coming in at angles or had appendages extending well beyond the HP Loading Zone. In order for a HP to put a heavy tetra on such an appendage, they would have been required to contort their body in such a way that may have resulted in the person loosing balance, falling, or getting entangled with their robot. I'm glad they made the HP Zone larger.


erin