Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Bill Moore
Any team planning to use this "slight nudge" strategy as a defensive mechanism has already decided to put the referee into a judgement call decision. You might as well start writing your complaints now, cause some of these judgements will go against you.
Robots don't stop on a dime. I don't care if you don't have your hands on the joystick at the moment of impact. If the forward momentum of your robot is the last bit of energy needed for that robot to tip over, you should be penalized, regardless of how slight the impact is, or how "tipsy" the other robot is. You have chosen a strategy that splits hairs over a rule concerning the intentional tipping of robots. As Beth has stated above, many would find this strategy to be Anti-GP.
Maybe next years KOP should have air-bag sensors, so we can measure just how much force was applied to a robot that tipped over.  If the air-bag goes off, you get DQ'd -- guess what, it no longer becomes a judgement call!
There are so many other potential strategies that are defensive in nature and aren't Anti-GP, that I don't see the purpose for this particular one. Why is the strategy to wait on their platform? A high CG robot is logically going to be shooting for the high goal at the end of the match. You will have at least a half field-length to block and hinder their approach to the ramp. Why would you waste your time sitting on their ramp for a potentially disasterous strategy? No, there are way too many other strategies that can be employed at the end game, than to take a chance on something as risky as this. |
Sorry Bill, but I have to disagree ...
In this year's game it is legal to push, shove, bump, and even "low speed" ram another robot. In fact, based on the new bumper rules this type of defensive strategy seems to be almost encouraged. There will definitely be some struggles for control of the platform/ramp, and there will definitely be some robots tipping over as a result. It is not illegal for a bot to defend its position, or to keep, or move, another robot off of the ramp. You can't expect a team to just allow their opponents to do whatever they want ... that is called defense ... and REQUIRED by each alliance for at least 40 seconds of each match.
Just because a robot tips as a result of the ramp battle it does not mean the other alliance should be penalized. As I stated in my post above (and this IS only my opinion - open to modification ONLY by my head referees interpretation of the rules) I would not be inclined to penalize a team unless there was clear and unmistakable intent to do harm.