Preface: I do not like the idea of changing the rules (via reinterpretation or rewording) after teams have spent countless hours designing a robot that follows the spirit of the original rules.
In order to make the enforcement of the original rule as fair and simple as possible, I have devised (with the help of all those who have posted their valuable thoughts) a way to interpret and enforce the rules that does not seem contrary to the spirit of the original rule and will not require a full platoon of referees.
The Sunlight Rule:
In order to be IN the loading zone, your robot must be in a position so that it is blocking sunlight (any kind of light that would be coming from above the loading zone) on some part of the loading zone.
In so doing, the base of your robot must be blocking enough sunlight to make it CLEAR and OBVIOUS to the referee that you are IN the loading zone.
In order to avoid changing the spirit of the rule,
<G12> still applies (no tethers, tape measures, long extension arms, etc).
According to the original rules, in order to receive another tetra from the [human or automated] loading station, you must EXIT the loading zone. We can all agree that to exit means to
leave the loading zone. The Sunlight Rule deals with this in a straightforward manner:
In order to be considered OUT of the loading zone, your robot must move to a position where the base is not blocking any of the sunlight falling on the loading zone.
In so doing, it must be CLEAR and OBVIOUS to the referee that your robot's base is now OUT of the loading zone. <G12> still applies.
Now, if a team wants to get another tetra, they may re-enter the loading zone and make sure that the base of their robot is covering enough of the loading zone to make it clear to the referee that they are again IN.
In order to enforce the 'Sunlight Rule', there need not be 8+ referees per match (one per loading station + general referees). At the most, we would need one referee per pair of loading stations. All of this is null and void, however, if people feel as if the Sunlight Rule is not sound.
I should clarify that the term "base" when used in the Sunlight Rule is not referring to the 28" by 38" base, but rather to the common sense base (the base that the robot is driving around on, whether it be 20 X 20 or 38 X 60). Also, the base does not consist of arms, tethers, tape measures, long extenders, etc.
I have a habit of writing too much
, so I'll stop. Hopefully we can come up with a reasonable solution.
-Andrew