avoid hitting the ESTOP in competition!

[Adam Richards]

Originally Posted by lineskier

Once again, my claims about the ESTOP are not based on suspicion, the field crew told us at the end of competition. if the estop is hit you will NOT receive any ranking or qualifying points for that match.

If the estop is hit without sufficient reasoning, you will receive a red card, which then stops you from receiving any RPs or QPs during qualification marches. During elimination matches, you will DQ your entire alliance for the match.

Again, it is not simply because you hit the estop that you got a red card, it is because you hit the estop and the referees did not judge your robot to be a safety violation while this was happening. If your robot was not in your control, you need to inform a referee before/after you slam that button.

Originally Posted by FRC 2011 Game Manual

<T12> During the qualification matches, a TEAM that receives a RED CARD will receive zero
qualification points and zero ranking points. The rest of the TEAMS in their ALLIANCE will
still receive the earned qualification points and ranking points.
<T13>During the elimination matches, a TEAM receiving a RED CARD will cause the
disqualification of their entire ALLIANCE for that MATCH.
<G29>If a ROBOT becomes unsafe (e.g. the ROBOT begins to smoke, the battery falls out, etc.) it may be disabled by pressing the E-Stop button. This will cause the TEAM'S ROBOT to be disabled for the remainder of the MATCH. The E-Stop buttons are intended for remote shut down during a MATCH in the event of safety hazards and will not otherwise affect MATCH score or duration. Any TEAM member may press the E-Stop button.
Violation: Inappropriate use of the E-Stop button (i.e. not for safety reasons) will result in a PENALTY plus RED CARD.

[mwtidd]

Originally Posted by Adam Richards

If the estop is hit without sufficient reasoning, you will receive a red card, which then stops you from receiving any RPs or QPs during qualification marches. During elimination matches, you will DQ your entire alliance for the match.

Again, it is not simply because you hit the estop that you got a red card, it is because you hit the estop and the referees did not judge your robot to be a safety violation while this was happening. If your robot was not in your control, you need to inform a referee before/after you slam that button.

again i'm not sure what consists of a safety hazard... in our case our robot was not driven by joystick or autonomous, and trust me. at full speed that thing was cooking, and we had no idea or control over what it would do next

you make a good point that you should read the manual and always express hitting the estop button to a ref before you do it. let them make the call...

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by lineskier

again i'm not sure what consists of a safety hazard...

<G29> has you covered:

Originally Posted by G29

If a ROBOT becomes unsafe (e.g. the ROBOT begins to smoke, the battery falls out, etc.)...

If your robot is out of your control (in whole or in part--if your arm's potentiometer fails and it starts flailing around), I'd say that counts as well.

[Mark McLeod]

Yours' is a good caution to teams that using the eStop is very serious this year.

At NJ the head ref emphasized at the drivers meeting that the eSTOP will draw a red card unless it's obvious to the refs that the robot is in an emergency situation.
They are watching the robots and cannot tell if your driver controls are not working (and non-working controls do not necessarily constitute an emergency).

Request permission/guidance from a nearby ref before hitting the eSTOP unless the robot is obviously in danger of an electrical fire, then stand in the red box after the match to explain to the head ref the circumstances of your eStop. Pleading your case for legal use of the eStop is probably the best course of action.