[The Lucas]

All auto coders and operators should be careful that their gripper does not open as teleoperated mode starts after autonomous. The tube at NJ was scored at the start of teleoperated mode not in between auto and tele (the bot's program opened thier gripper). There is no good reason that the refs should have to wrestle with a gripped tube. They should only have to remove ones that were released and hang precariously without scoring. The team should be responsible for disposing of their keepers after auton.

FIRST should issue a warning via team update and reiterate it at the driver meeting. It is not the refs responsibility. Any team that doesn’t comply and scores a late keeper (even unintentionally) should be DQed for scoring the late keeper. Any team that can auto program, can program their bot to hold onto the keeper when user mode starts (operator may need to set a switch as well). First week should get a pass because it was unexpected (I never thought about it either).