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Unread 13-06-2007, 13:20
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Re: Least favorite rules?

Hmm, Top 3 in order:

3. Tubes that "support" ramps disqualify all end-game points. Not sure how many people are familiar with how our robot ramped this year, but one of our support legs came down exactly in the middle of a tube. The drivers adjusted the bot so that the leg was perfectly in the middle of the tube and not touching it. Upon inspection for end-game points, a ref freely moved the tube around, but another ref (after this) said he witnessed a small vertical deflection in the tube -- but the tube ended up where the first ref put it, causing the deflection.

Perhaps it was purely situational, but it's pretty obvious they had to get technical to justify the rule when in all actuality every team that successfully ramped/lifted never had to rely on a field element anyways. The mechanics of matches would have been nearly exactly the same all season long without this rule, yet this one rule affected so many outcomes it's utterly ridiculous, IMO.

2. It is legal to ram an opposing team's ramps as they deploy in their home zone so long as you do not climb them and contact is made via your bumpers. That is correct, this happened to several teams and was brought up in the driver's meeting in Atlanta only to be stated that it is very legal. "Intentional contact outside the bumper zone" should apply to both robots.

1. And my most hated rule: You incurred penalties if you were disabled in the opposing home zone after the last 15 seconds even if the disabling was determined -->>by the IFI representative at the conclusion of the match in question<<-- to be the fault of the field and not the robot or human controllers. Look up the QuarterFinals for Vegas with teams 233, 1885, and 004 for an example. If you attended Vegas, you actually had a chance to witness the IFI guy reach under the Red control station and adjust something right after the SemiFinals.

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Personally I like the "no duct tape" rule and the fact that FIRST is attempting to use a safer (but heavier) means to wire the robot. 72"x72" and weight/size rules included, these are all in place to take you through the real-life constraints Professional Engineers have to deal with. Don't hate these rules; they (or some variant of them) are never going away.
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