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Re: tipping robots
Posted by jason, Coach on team #252/254, Bay Bombers/Cheesy Poofs, from Broadway High and NASA Ames.
Posted on 2/27/99 11:15 PM MST
In Reply to: Re: tipping robots posted by Dan on 2/27/99 6:07 PM MST:
: Are you at the competition right now?? Did you guys get tipped? Come on . .give us some details. :-Dan
This is from the Broadway High / NASA AMES Robotics team.
The 1999 Western Regional Champions along with Woodside High (a terrific
team with truly wonderful kids and coaches) We had a very difficult
3 days with many ups and downs - but the kids really came through and
played amazing on the final day today. Everything came together and we
couldn't have asked anything more of our kids. The other schools in the
playoffs were all so great. not only were the robots really well
built, but the teams were just incredible. I can't name all 16, but
Woodside, Hawthorne, Gunn, Brandeis, Kingman, Queen Creek/Highland,
Vintage, Northridge/Chatsworth, Willow Glen, Foothill, Monte Vista, and
all the others were so impressive. We are a rookie team and didn't
really know what to expect, but never did we imagine being surrounded by
so many friendly, hard working, brilliantly designed, skillfully
controlled teams.
OK, now to try to answer some of the questions:
This is long because I think it can help answer a lot of the questions
for teams in the remaining regionals and hopefully help teams out.
We just finished the Western Regional (NASA Ames) today - and the tipping
issue ended up being very important. we had a total of twelve matches
in the qualifying round (about 30 schools showed up)and 7 matches in the
playoffs - and were personally involved in 4 tippings, our robot being
tipped three times. I think our experience is important because it
showed every aspect of tipping.
Once we were totally responsible for tipping - driver and controller error.
Once we were fully extended over 8ft, but were unable to properly ground
ourself. However, we engaged another robot which was on the puck, it
turned to defend itself, rammed our robot, and tipped us over and out of
the field. As far as I'm concerned, even though it cost us a match, it
was legal and acceptable because we were engaging them and trying to gain
control of the puck.
Once, one team was on the puck and controlled it. We were unable to
latch onto the pole, so decided to back away from the puck and raise our
floppies. The robot on the puck waited until we extended, then moved
their arms under our basket, and intentionally tipped us over with 3
seconds left in the match (in a slow motion moment of agony, I don't
think our robot actually thumped to the floor until well after the match
had ended.) They were disqualified by the judges for unsportsmanlike
conduct. The reasoning was this:
every robot had established their position, we had backed off and
were not engaging them, we were not in a space on the field or
controlling anything they would want, and there was absolutely no
threat to them or their position. So with the above conditions, it was
clear that there was ONLY ONE intention with their action - to tip us.
The officials said that was not in the spirit of the game and would not
and could not be allowed - because it would have set the standard so to
speak at the rest of the regionals after ours basically allowing
teams to batter and injure others.
In the next match, that very robot which was disqualified against us,
was tipped over itself. It was tipped about 25 seconds into the match
while three teams were all trying to control the puck. They were trying
to get on the puck. We were on their left pushing the puck to their side.
Our ally was pushing the puck from the right side toward their side. As
the front of their robot tried to go up the puck, the puck spun towards
us and their wheels actually came off the ground and onto our robot. As
we continued to push the puck forward they tipped over. The judges said
that was completely allowed because it was a result of engagement and
trying to control aspects of the playing field. We were clearly only
trying to push the puck, while the movements of all three robots put
together with the puck results in the conditions which led to their tip.
They key was that we were trying to defend the puck and clearly had not
made any attempt to actually tip them on purpose (I hope they know that)
It was unfortunate, because they are a great veteran team and throughout
the competition all of our best and most competitive matches involved
their team (both allied with us, and against us) Even before the playoffs
and everything, our two teams communicated a lot and they went out of
their way to answer any questions we had and/or help us. Our students
look up to and admire their team (they have actually been the model I
have used for the past 2 months as to what level our students should try
to reach within a year or so)
After much thought and discussion, I really do think the refs made
the right call in each above case (the two decisions against us and
the two in our favor) I would love to hear other opinions about the
above situations. Good Luck to everyone!!!!! We look forward to seeing
you all in Florida and hopefully getting to ally with as many of you
as possible.
Jason Morrella,
Broadway High
San Jose, CA
P.S. I will never post a message this long again. I PROMISE. I just
thought you might want to know the details of the tipping issue in case
it comes up at your regionals.
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