Team Update #18

[Mike Copioli]

=MagiChau;1040834]Found the rule G46 the minibot may only be used to climb the pole.

You missed the point.

Besides this states nothing about HOW the PLATE gets pushed only about what may climb the pole. There are many forces that can 'PUSH' the plate without actually climbing the pole or even contacting the plate at all.

In case you have not figured out my point, I will clarify: To differentiate between TRIGGERING first and WINNING the race is lawyering the rules as the obvious intent is to determine who is first, second, third and fourth and assign a point value to represent each place.

If we lose a match because the other alliance scored more points than us. I can accept that and applaud the victors.

If we lose a match because our alliance partner goes into the opposing alliances scoring zone contacting a robot incurring a red card. I can accept that and commend the refs for making the correct call.

But if we lose a match because the field did not operate as intended or described in the user manual as interpreted by the TEAMS, FIRSTs customers, using a minibot that was built to operate under said parameters....This I cannot accept and will not accept and will result in a student standing in the little ? box at the end of the match every time it happens.

If TRIGGERING requires some amount of debounce time to register, or something greater than 4 Newtons, or Coke turning into Pepsi, this should be CLEARLY published in one of the many user manuals put out by FIRST.