[ExTexan]

At each competition the final decision is the head referee's and there will always be some variance. Hopefully the variances are small.

This year, at the three competitions I have reffed, we have been pretty consistent. At the point we decide a robot is pinned we start a visible "tomahawk" count. If at the end of a 5 second count the pinning robot has not backed away 6 feet then a pinning penalty is counted.

Clearly there is some subjectivity and time lag on when a ref may consider a robot pinned. Basically my interpretation is when a robot is pushed against a field element (bumps included) and cannot get away. If the robot has the option of going over the bump or through the tunnel or moving in some way that was not their initial direction, I do not consider them pinned. Robots tussling in the field are not pinned.

If a pinning robot backs away as my count hits 3 and the pinned robot has a chance to get away then I would restart the count if the pinning robot came back and pinned again if the pinned robot didn't move away when it could.