As a ref in Oklahoma, I would like to shed some light on what is going on, in our regional at least.

Throughout Thursday and Friday morning, we called penalties based on what the Head Refs had decided during their conference call. They had said that if a ball penetrated for just a second, then rolled back out, no penalty would be called. If the ball was stuck for more than 2 or 3 seconds, we would call a penalty. But if the robot continued playing the game, a penalty, plus a yellow card would be assessed.

After discussions during our lunch, we went back over this rule, after I pointed out that one user on the webcast was more than upset by the way we were calling it. We then decided that if a ball went under a robot, they had 10 seconds to dislodge it. We feel that 10 seconds is more than enough to fix the problem. After that, we call a penalty. However, if the robot tries "playing the game", we will call a penalty and a yellow card, no matter how long it is stuck under.

I hope that provided some insight. I'll do my best to answer any other questions about rulings on the field.

EDIT: As of the drivers meeting this morning, we will not call the penalty if it looks as if the robot is actively trying to remove the ball. I personally believe that this is much more in the spirit of the rule, and glad we made this change. I know teams will be upset if we call this penalty, but keep in mind we don't know exactly what you're trying to do with the robot. We base it off how the situation looks to us.