[YMTC]: Do DISCS a robot is touching invalidate a CLIMB?

[Steven Donow]

Originally Posted by lemiant

Guys. Strategies that use discs to climb or to prevent teams from climbing are prohibited.

This was the ruling at Bridgewater,the match that probably made 2016 question this. The disc was simply between their robot and the floor,and it was ruled invalid. The disc was flat on the ground though, not as extreme as what Mark posted above.

[Jon Stratis]

It's a tough decision to figure out when a team is employing a strategy, versus when the presence of a disc is coincidence. Were I a ref (and I'll never be a ref, you have my word on that!), I would take into account past behavior of the robot/team... if they have many successful level 1 climbs without discs under their robot, and nothing obvious has changed, then I would probably consider it a coincidence. If, however, they had issues with the climb (not always getting all the way up, getting "stuck" with part of the robot on the ground, etc) in the past, it might be considered a strategy. If they spend time moving the disc, then it's a strategy.