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Train Wreck.
I just reread through the original rules (<G12> through <G15>) to try to get a feel for exactly what everyone was thinking when we set out to design and build our robots. Here are two major problems (potential train wrecks) I see with the current interpretation of the loading zone rule:
1) Now that in order to be "in" the loading zone, you must have something within your 28" by 38" base touching the triangle, it is now possible to enter and exit the loading zone without moving the base of your robot. How? Well suppose you stuck the front half of your base over the triangle so that none of your wheels were touching. By the rules, your robot is NOT in the loading zone.
Next, you use a tiny pneumatic cylinder in the front center of your robot to put down a small neon green (or pink) foot to touch the loading zone triangle. Now your robot is IN the loading zone. Awfully convenient, wouldn't you say? To exit the loading zone, all you have to do is lift the foot using your pneumatic. Total lateral movement by the robot: zero.
Does it strike anyone else as odd that you can enter the loading zone AND exit the loading zone without ever moving your robot?
2) Nothing in <G12> through <G15> in any way suggests that a robot that falls on its side to make its base 38" by 60" should not be able to use its "new" base to touch or cover the loading zone triangle.
Geez, I need to stop typing so much.
Anyway, here is the point:
Enforce the rule the way it was written and the way it was meant to be enforced: If a robot is, in the opinion of whatever referee is watching, CLEARLY IN (that is, covering) the loading station, let it get a tetra. Also, the robot must be CLEARLY OUT of (not covering) the loading station before it re-enters.
Hope this was somewhat useful,
-Andrew
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