Ruling on Robonauts Balance

[Jim Giacchi]

Originally Posted by Taylor

Are there spare bridges shipped with the field?

Yes, having set the field up in New Jersey, each field has a spare bridge, spare back boards, spare hoops, spare plexiglass for the player's station and a spare barrier. There is also an entire extra backup field ready to go in the case of some catastrophic accident with a truck catching on fire or freak meteor showing destroying a building.

[cgmv123]

Originally Posted by Jim Giacchi

There is also an entire extra backup field ready to go in the case of some catastrophic accident with a truck catching on fire or freak meteor showing destroying a building.

Just to clarify, that field is not on site. It's in Tennessee, and I think it becomes Einstein after the season.

[O'Sancheski]

Originally Posted by cgmv123

and I think it becomes Einstein after the season.

It only becomes Einstein if it is never used.

[JesseK]

To the Robonauts: you guys took a calculated risk in which the impact meant you potentially wasted build time. Given that the rest of your bot performed remarkably well for Week 1 from what I saw and that you could still balance like an "average" robot, I'd say the risk was very worth it. The evident systematic decision making on your team is something that every team should aspire to. I'd like to thank you for sharing the full extent of your experience.

The good news: The "side-hanger" can be replaced with a "stinger". Heh. I agree that the way the ruling happened leaves some room for improvement, but the ruling itself may put them in a better position than before.

[KrazyCarl92]

I just hope this helps the GDC realize that there is a REASON these specific to design questions are asked in the Q&A isn't because we want to ask for design reviews, we need to know whether or not certain and specific robot-robot or robot-field element/game piece interactions are legal in order to build robots within the rules. Something that is vague and without formal definition is immediately something that needs clearing up. Although I personally agree with the GDC's decision as to the "grappling" associated with 118's mechanism, I would like to thank the Robonauts for a few things:

1. Pushing the envelope
2. Inspiring others to push the envelope
3. Hopefully showing the GDC why this kind of legality is an important thing to decide week 1 or 2 of build; not week 1 of competitions. Would this have gone on til week had that been when 118 first competed? That would be ridiculous... (it already is in my mind).