"Out of the box designs"

[EricH]

Originally Posted by magnets

You're right, it's illegal, but a "match" doesn't include the 5 seconds at the end. The game manual says matches are 2 minutes and 15 seconds long. So, you wouldn't get a foul for being too tall, but your disc doesn't count.

It looks like climbing is the only thing that gets the extra five seconds, not discs.

Nope, discs would get the extra 5 seconds if they were in motion.

You're right about not getting a foul for being too tall. The penalty for violating a robot rule is a disable (for this situation, not an issue) and/or a red card (to the alliance!) depending on whether or not you didn't pass inspection and/or shouldn't have passed inspection. No point penalty--but a DQ hurts you worse than most point penalties.

Now, here's where I think we differ: The robot rules say "never" over 84". Not the match rules, the robot rules--which apply at inspection AND during a match (and if you're breaking them elsewhere, like right after the match, the inspectors will be looking for you to show that you cannot break them on the field--oops, too late). If you break the robot rules in a match, the least you can expect is a disable; if it's something that should have been illegal by inspection, and you're on the field, red card to the alliance.

If some folks wanted to get really persnickety, you triggered the action to go over 84" during the match (and THAT you can't argue--you released the pin before the timer hit zero) and thus attempted to go over 84" during the match, and thus attempted to violate the rule during the match--you just happened to complete it during the "come to rest" time. (Not to mention any accidental deploys.) It's a thin defense that you didn't actually complete it. (I think most refs would call you on it--and the head ref's ruling is final.)

Of course, now that you've mentioned it... anyone want to take a stab at how the GDC might manage rule something like this illegal next year, using either existing or new rules?

Anyways, I don't know about y'all, but I wouldn't take the risk of no points for myself and my alliance partners if the loophole doesn't actually exist. (Now, utilizing other systems on the robot to target the pyramid goal and drop a couple of shots up there without climbing, that's another story--because I don't come close to breaking any rules.)