What we learned from week 1

[Nuttyman54]

Originally Posted by notmattlythgoe

The violation comes with teams working together to obstruct the flow of a game. AKA sitting in the opposing alliances safe zone in front of their feeder station.

This is an iffy call, and it's a G25 penalty. Greg said specifically that they were assessing technical fouls under G30 for the situation he described, which is what I think is wrong.

G25 cannot apply unless the alliance is working together to do this (eg. both feeder stations are blocked by opposing robots). G25 applies only to the actions of multiple robots (plural), so a single robot preventing access to the feeder station should not be penalized under G25.

[Clinton Bolinger]

See the following Q&A:

https://frc-qa.usfirst.org/Question/...eeder-stations

Q. Is it in violation of G25 for an alliance to restrict/block access to one or two of the opposition feeder stations?
2013-02-14 by FRC1884

A. We rely on the judgement of our Referees to make this decision in each MATCH. Generally, blocking access to a FEEDER STATION is not considered a violation of [G25]. Blocking access to all FEEDER STATIONS would be considered a violation of [G25].

-Clinton-

[Alpha Beta]

Originally Posted by notmattlythgoe

The violation comes with teams working together to obstruct the flow of a game. AKA sitting in the opposing alliances safe zone in front of their feeder station.

That would be a G-25, but has no bearing if it is not multiple robots working together. Would also have no bearing if the field wasn't blockaded. Their is an alternate location to get discs from.

G25
ROBOTS on the same ALLIANCE may not blockade the FIELD in an attempt to stop the flow of the MATCH. This rule has no effect on individual ROBOT-ROBOT interaction.

Violation: TECHNICAL FOUL

Edit: Beaten to it.

[notmattlythgoe]

Touche.

[Nuttyman54]

I found the Q&A I was looking for to support my original statement, FWIW:

Originally Posted by Q26

Q.If part of our robot is in contact with the carpet on our side, but has part of the robot in contact
with the opponents carpet, and comes in contact with another opponent robot in autonomous,
would a technical foul be assessed? If so, would the foul be assessed to both teams who make the
contact?
A.If the ROBOT has not violated [G19], no penalty will be assessed.

This is in regards to G19, but it general supports an official ruling that if the terms of the rule have not been violated, no penalty can be assessed.

[bcharbonneau]

A ref at the Hub City Regional told our team that G30 did not apply unless you were climbing. Hopefully this will be discussed.

[Racer26]

Originally Posted by bcharbonneau

A ref at the Hub City Regional told our team that G30 did not apply unless you were climbing. Hopefully this will be discussed.

Then that ref was objectively wrong.

[Dr Theta]

After having watched a fair bit of footage from week 1 I would not be surprised if we saw the "Scorched Earth" Alliance selection strategy in one of the championship divisions this year. There is a sufficient level of competence within the overall field this year (and with the added addition of the Wild Card I can only assume that the depth of the championship field will be that much better), that when coupled with the large divisions at the Championship it will not be surprising to see favorites within a division looking up at a couple other teams with a better draw.

I also believe that alliance selection strategy will be crucial to success at any event this year. I would not be surprised to see a 6 7 or 8 seed win in many events depending on the relative drop off in the field. Dominant robots can still control regionals ala 1986 and 610, but at events with a solid but not dominant top tier upsets may be more prevalent.

[Alpha Beta]

Originally Posted by Dr Theta

After having watched a fair bit of footage from week 1 I would not be surprised if we saw the "Scorched Earth" Alliance selection strategy in one of the championship divisions this year. There is a sufficient level of competence within the overall field this year (and with the added addition of the Wild Card I can only assume that the depth of the championship field will be that much better), that when coupled with the large divisions at the Championship it will not be surprising to see favorites within a division looking up at a couple other teams with a better draw.

I also believe that alliance selection strategy will be crucial to success at any event this year. I would not be surprised to see a 6 7 or 8 seed win in many events depending on the relative drop off in the field. Dominant robots can still control regionals ala 1986 and 610, but at events with a solid but not dominant top tier upsets may be more prevalent.

By "Scorched Earth" do you mean a less desirable #1 seed picking other captains with their first pick, expecting them to say no, and preventing them from then choosing each other?

[Dr Theta]

Originally Posted by Alpha Beta

By "Scorched Earth" do you mean a less desirable #1 seed picking other captains with their first pick, expecting them to say no, and preventing them from then choosing each other?

That is correct similar to Newton in 2006. (No offense intended to the number one seed of that division, it was a smart strategy but according to the stats they may not have even been top 16)