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Originally Posted by AJunx
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.
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.
-Andrew
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I agree that the base requirement needs to be flexible for teams that fall over or expand.
I do not agree with the 'sunlight rule'.
How much sunlight is enough? What about the lights from above the whole perimeter of the field?
We can argue for days telling everyone not to act like a lawyer, but this is what everyone is doing.
FIRST uses the baseball analogy to make the rules clear. If you are touching the loading zone you are in. If you are not touching the loading zone you are out.
There is no argument with a rule like this.
I can see the argument about a robots wheels being covered and not highly visible to the ref. Let me ask everyone this: How many robots have you seen that you couldn't tell where they contacted the floor?
Looking at the the pictures of robots this year, there are very few that do not have any wheels/treads showing.
I don't see this being as big a problem as everyone predicts it will be.
Again, the rule has been there since 1/11, giving teams plaenty of time to design properly.