How Fast Can you Safely Climb?

[MrForbes]

When I read the rules, it appeared that if your robot contacts the touchpad, but then goes back down the rope enough that the touchpad is no longer activated, then you can't get the climbing bonus.

It might be that you want to spend a little time on the control system for your climbing mechanism?

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by MrForbes

When I read the rules, it appeared that if your robot contacts the touchpad, but then goes back down the rope enough that the touchpad is no longer activated, then you can't get the climbing bonus.

It might be that you want to spend a little time on the control system for your climbing mechanism?

This isn't a universally true statement. You just need to satisfy the two criteria:

1. Touch the pad for at least 1 continuous second
2. Touch the pad during the 0.0 second mark on the clock.

I actually can't find anything in the rules that suggests that these two operations have to be done in the same instance of touching the button; I could have missed that though. Point being, if you touch the button at zero seconds, and you've already touched it for 1 second or more beforehand, you don't need to stay up there.

Any number of really simple control system things can ensure you don't immediately fall back down once you touch the button - it could be as simple as a feed-forward gain.

[Basel A]

Originally Posted by Chris is me

This isn't a universally true statement. You just need to satisfy the two criteria:

1. Touch the pad for at least 1 continuous second
2. Touch the pad during the 0.0 second mark on the clock.

I actually can't find anything in the rules that suggests that these two operations have to be done in the same instance of touching the button; I could have missed that though. Point being, if you touch the button at zero seconds, and you've already touched it for 1 second or more beforehand, you don't need to stay up there.

Any number of really simple control system things can ensure you don't immediately fall back down once you touch the button - it could be as simple as a feed-forward gain.

That would be a good question for the Q&A. I would anticipate that it does have to be the same instance but as you say, that's not specified.

As for control, the easiest way is to (a) press the touchpad using something springy like a bumper and (b) have something mechanical like a ratchet keeping you from moving downward. This combination means you can stop all power but will still be exerting some small amount of force on the touchpad.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Basel A

That would be a good question for the Q&A. I would anticipate that it does have to be the same instance but as you say, that's not specified.

As for control, the easiest way is to (a) press the touchpad using something springy like a bumper and (b) have something mechanical like a ratchet keeping you from moving downward. This combination means you can stop all power but will still be exerting some small amount of force on the touchpad.

After reading section 3.9 again, it specifies the three criteria to score are evaluated "at the end of the MATCH", which seems to imply that you have to satisfy the T=0 requirement at the same time you satisfy the >1 second requirement.

[Eric Scheuing]

Originally Posted by Basel A

That would be a good question for the Q&A. I would anticipate that it does have to be the same instance but as you say, that's not specified.

I would think so as well, but all I was able to find in the rules was this:

"If a ROBOT causes a dome to illuminate, but disengages from the
TOUCHPAD, the dome turns off and the associated points are removed from the real-time score."

Let's see what the Q&A has to say about this!