[gburlison]

Originally Posted by kirtar

In the case of the lifting, how the rules are currently stated, as long as you are off the ground and at the specified elevation (or hanging onto an elevated/suspended robot) before the time restriction runs out, it will count. Obviously, said action must be triggered ahead of time as the field will effectively disable your controls (with the probable exception of the compressor if you're really desparate).

The problem is that the refs have to verify that you are above the plane. They will wait until time runs out and then come out onto the field to see how high your bot is. If it can not maintain the lift for the 10 seconds. It might not count. Its not that hard to make the act of disabling the controls, trigger the final action. In fact you want to make sure that the opposite does not happen. Disabling the controls might trigger something that undoes your final action. In particular hanging from the tower. If you need power to keep hanging, them when they disable your controls you will probably fall.