IRI Rule Changes

[Craig Roys]

Get rid of G21 (robot extending outside field) as long as there is no violation of G24 (extending up to 20" beyond frame perimeter).

Get rid of or modify G40 (human player extending into safety zone) provided G41 is not violated (human player may not contact robot or a ball in contact with a robot). I'm not sure if there would be too much liability here.

Have the pedestal light controlled by a person with a switch rather than FMS - that way it will light as soon as a ball is scored.

[Boe]

Increase catch points to 20 points and change fouls to 10 and 30.

[Jared Russell]

Originally Posted by Paul Copioli

Make autonomous actually autonomous.

I mean, the Kinect and webcam driving made for cool interaction during "auton", but they were both just different ways to drive the robot in auton.

Even the hybrid auton of 2008 didn't allow for that much driving in auton.

Don't get me wrong, I love how teams took the Q&A ruling and used it to their advantage, but I feel this will probably be changed in future years (unless it will no longer be a true autonomous period).

I agree. Though if this is done, I would also get rid of hot goals - just make all auto balls hot (or not), since you still can't count on deterministic timing of the goals as of Champs.

[Lil' Lavery]

Originally Posted by Boe

Increase catch points to 20 points and change fouls to 10 and 30.

If you decrease tech fouls to 30 points, I'm going to pin the crap out of the opposing ball carrier near the end of a match. No way am I letting them score 40 points with that ball.

[wesbass23]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

If you decrease tech fouls to 30 points, I'm going to pin the crap out of the opposing ball carrier near the end of a match. No way am I letting them score 40 points with that ball.

Is there not an additional penalty for repeatedly breaking a rule as part of a strategy? I don't remember them having to make a call like that at IRI in the past but I would hate for them to have to.

[Chris Hibner]

Originally Posted by mott

While I don't think the above suggestion is a bad idea, there is already "somewhat" of a penalty associated with delivering an out-of-bounds ball to the downfield human players... It does make earning the 10 Truss Points a little more disruptive to your cycle as you'd have to backtrack to the defensive half of the field before re-attempting your Truss Shot. I've always just considered this an adequate penalty for missing your first attempt, especially in heavily defensive matches.

I should explain the reason behind why I proposed this change in a little more detail.

During the eliminations at MSC, it seemed there was a lot of taking advantage of the "closest HP" rule + the lightning fast ability of the field crew to get the ball to the down-field HP. Many teams were getting the ball in the middle zone and then if any defense whatsoever was encountered, they would fling the ball wildly toward the sideline. The field crew would then throw the ball to the down-field HP, quick inbound, bang-score.

The fling out-of-bounds didn't add any time to the cycle because the ball was always caught by the field crew and given to the down-field HP in less than a second. In fact, I would say it SAVED time because they didn't have to bother lining up and fighting defense (and it was definitely faster than sending the ball over the truss to the field and forcing your partner to track the ball down). Many of the sideline flings crossed the field boundary as far back as the zone division line, but the ball was still given to the down-field HP. The issue I have with it is it seems like teams saw a loophole to avoid defense and speed up the cycle, and decided to take advantage of it. I'd like to close that loophole.

[Koko Ed]

For starters:
Take G40.
Give it cements shoes.
Dump it in a lake.
Cut tech foul points in half.
Game improves exponentially!

[cgmv123]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

If you decrease tech fouls to 30 points, I'm going to pin the crap out of the opposing ball carrier near the end of a match. No way am I letting them score 40 points with that ball.

This is why the GDC assigns foul points the way they do. They don't want teams intentionally taking fouls as part of their strategy.

[Travis Hoffman]

Originally Posted by Tom Line

In fact, this would be highlighted in qualification matches. Many robots aren't capable of 2 ball by design, and allowing 6 balls to the teams that can do a consistent 3 ball would break qualifications, giving those teams a consistent and large lead at the beginning of nearly every autonomous.

Yeah and no triple balancing in qualifying either, u lucky widebots! Oh, wait, nevermind...sorry - flashbacks

I felt there were many "phantom" assists credited in the Newton division. Balls bouncing off of robots (often rookies) with no hint of actual possession. Sometimes I swear they never even touched the thing. I'd like to avoid that.

I'd like possession to be achieved by either.....

1. Active capture/release with a mechanism, even for a brief instant.
2. Trapping the ball against a field element or another robot.
3. Obvious herding of the ball in a direction (you travel in the same direction as the ball).

Basketball players are permitted touch passes, are they not? Soccer and hockey players can advance the ball/puck without holding it in their possession for an extended period, right? Why not robots? But all of them make some kind of intentional interaction with the game piece to direct it down an intended path. It's not like their teammates regularly bounce the thing off their skates or backs or domes as part of regular gameplay. The robot must be an active and knowing part of the transfer process.

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

Allow a ball to be taken off a pedestal at any time but penalize an alliance for inbounding the ball early before the assist lights go off.

Absolutely this!! and making sure they only grab 1 at a time.

[waialua359]

Originally Posted by wesbass23

Is there not an additional penalty for repeatedly breaking a rule as part of a strategy? I don't remember them having to make a call like that at IRI in the past but I would hate for them to have to.

Or also bang opposing robots during auto mode, the team that does 3 ball auto.

[Pat Fairbank]

I have two suggestions that would speed up the pace of the game, decrease the burden on referees and their subjective judgement, and eliminate the pain of being allied with a BLT, without fundamentally altering the spirit of the game:

1. Get rid of zones. If all three robots POSSESS a ball during a cycle anywhere on the field, that's three assists.

2. Change the definition of POSSESSION (for an alliance's own ball) to any contact with the ball where a partnering robot isn't also contacting the ball. The definition of POSSESSION of an opponent's ball would remain the same.

[Jay O'Donnell]

The only thing I want changed is for refs to actually call G11.
BALLS may not be intentionally or repeatedly ejected from gameplay.

Violation: FOUL per instance.


Passing a BALL to a HUMAN PLAYER is within gameplay and not considered a violation of G11.

Teams shouldn't just be able to shoot it way over the HP's head and get away with it.

[Adam Freeman]

Originally Posted by Pat Fairbank

I have two suggestions that would speed up the pace of the game, decrease the burden on the referees and their subjective judgement, and eliminate the pain of being allied with a BLT, without fundamentally altering the spirit of the game:

1. Get rid of zones. If all three robots POSSESS a ball during a cycle anywhere on the field, that's three assists.

2. Change the definition of POSSESSION (for an alliance's own ball) to any contact with the ball where a partnering robot isn't also contacting the ball. The definition of POSSESSION of an opponent's ball would remain the same.

I agree with both of these. It makes the game easier to ref, yet doesn't completely change the way tlut is played. It also makes it easier to get partners more involved.

[Jim Zondag]

I think we simply change the whole game.
We have all played open practice matches with lots of balls at events, it is crazy fun with good robots. Change the game to this format:

1. Get rid of Assists.
2. Get rid of the pedestal light.
3. Each Alliance can have up to 3 balls on the field at a time. Team in-bounders control this. Refs simply enforce. Way easier than watching and controlling a pedestal.
4. Ten points for trussing , ten points for catching, ten points for scoring high.

This would be super simple, super fast, and super cool. Defense would be much reduced because other members of alliance can continue to score during double teams. It would be awesome!