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Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz
I don't remember any time in the past where it was acceptable to intentionally tip another robot. If not officially frowned upon it has been a hazard for humans near the playing field and for field pieces and therefore has not been allowed. There are other competitions where the field is enclosed. In that competition tipping is OK and encouraged. I am in the audience and I do not like to see robots go down.
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Just a quick history tidbit to throw in here. Many years ago in FIRST, tipping was not only accepted, it was actively encouraged (does anyone else here remember the infamous <Rule F7> from 1997?). Back then, part of Dean's introduction talk at the kick-off for each season included a statement that went something like "offense and defense are both parts of this game. This is a sport, just like football. Just like football, you can tackle the other players. But there are limits - you can tackle, but you can't clip. In this game, instead of tackling you can tip over other robots. And knowing that, you should design your robots accordingly - the potential for being tipped is part of the challenge. The well-designed robots will be able to deal with that, and will be able to get back up if they are tipped." As you walked through the pits those years, you could see all sorts of little devices that were incorporated into the robots that were specifically designed to lift up the edge of an opponent robot and flip it onto its back (one of the best that I remember was from Team 118 and the small, very effective flippers on each corner of the robot that Charley Price designed for the robot that year). Several of the mentors had a very long, very interesting discussion with Dean about the tipping ideas while sitting around the hotel at Disney in 1996. He made it very clear that tipping was part of the game, and he expected to see a lot of robots go over - and see a lot of them get up and continue in the game. The prohibition against intentional tipping did not come into play until, I believe, 1998 (or possibly 1999).
-dave