intentionally starting without a ball in auto

[Joe Johnson]

When the game is played on the highest levels*, I think that this is going to something that alliances use if they think they can run the field end to end faster than their opponents. By getting balls out of the neutral zone quickly they force both alliances to go greater distances to get balls, which works to the faster alliance's advantage.

As to not violating the rule against entering the airspace above the midline (G13), this is really not that hard given the size of the ball (boulder) and a reasonable roller style ball collector, given that you can be literally a fraction of an inch away from a ball.

As to time, 15 seconds is plenty of time to acquire a ball that you are almost touching cross a defense and then shoot. Not so with a 2 ball auton**, in which time will be anything but plentiful. For a single ball auton, it seems like the 2-3 seconds to get a ball will shouldn't be too bad.

Dr. Joe J.



*Certainly Einstein but even before that at District Championships, at some of the stronger regionals, ...

**For a two ball auton, I think teams will not dare picking up a ball from the midline AFTER crossing a defense twice so I suppose that such teams will probably put a ball in their robot, put it DOWN at the start of auton, then get a ball from the midline, cross a defense, shoot, traverse back to get the ball they put down, then cross the defense again and shoot. Tricky but a nice advantage if you can manage it.