North Bay Regional (2016)

[Jay O'Donnell]

Originally Posted by dtengineering

There were several red cards for tipping handed out last week according to discussion on CD. I personally saw one at the PNW Mount Vernon event.

The team that did the tipping was a respected team with a history of GP play. The team that they tipped was also a respected team with a history of GP play. The red card eliminated the alliance from the semis... Neither alliance wanted the match to end that way, I don't think.

The unanimous call by refs across several independent tournaments has been that tipping is illegal, whether you meant to or not. My interpretation is that it is much like high sticking in hockey... Just as a hockey player is responsible for their stick, the drive team is responsible for their robot. If your opponent starts to tip, you MUST back off to prevent the tip.

I wasn't at North Bay, and have no idea in what context you are interpreting this result, but at PNW Mount Vernon, the team that received the red card in the semis, after first appealing the call, returned to ask the head ref if he'd sign the card for them. I don't think they'd ever received one before! I believe I also overheard a member of the drive team comment that the tip looked different on video than it did from the driver station.

It IS possible to get a red card while still being a GP team. But to be clear, a red card for tipping seems to be a very uniform call across multiple events and multiple weeks... "Don't tip robots" appears to be a uniform standard.

Jason

So if I build a tall, unstable robot and it tips over when my opponent taps me on the side, I win? Not a good precedent to set.

Obviously that's not what happened at North Bay or PNW, but I worry about this precedent hurting more teams when they unintentionally flip another team.