Ungracious and unprofessional...

[Yan Wang]

I also think that people need to realize that during a match, people are playing to win. If their intention is otherwise, it's visible to everyone else and they will be remembered for their malicious intent. But most of the time, it's just a game. And when people build robots with 12" wheels and try climbing 6" platforms, tipping needs to be expected. Your robot is only as good as you design it to be. I figure that when I am driving in Canada in 10 days, I will either tip or be tipped at least once. And I won't feel too bad about it unless that other teams starts ramming me while I'm on the ground. And hopefully that other team that I tip won't think that I love seeing other team's robots fall and possibly damage itself. It's like any sport - expect some injuries, but try not to be dissuaded from your goals by such petty incidents.

[Tyler Olds]

A good way that I look at things is if my robot was pushed over, it wasn't the other teams fault, but it was a design flaw on behalf of my team.

Robots should be made robust and durable; I think that preventing your robot from tipping over falls into this category.

When I am driving in the middle of a match, I normally don't have time to stop and think "oh maybe I shouldn't try to push their robot because it will break, or it tips over easily” my mind is set on winning the match.

[Ashley Weed]

In my experiences driving, I had one robot that was prone to tipping, and we tipped ourselves all the time going across the ramp in 2001. In 2003, we were flipped once on top of the ramp. I believe it was an accident as there were several robots attempting for the ramp at the same time, and we got the short end of the stick. However, if you build a robust robot, you will get yourself out of the situation. We were able to use our mast and arm to lift ourselves upright, and drive onto the platform.

..... I have seen a lot of tipping this year, I would suggest talking it over with your opponents if you have a problem with it. They might even suggest something to help you prevent from tipping in the future.

[tenfour]

Robots will flip...this is just part of the game. The real question is: "Was the opponent solely interested in flipping others?" Simply building a robot with a wedge and gunning for high robots means yes. If you try to block others and flip them as a result, then its just part of the game.

Its no fun being flipped, but its all part of the challenge. Our team had major problems with this the Sunday before ship, but we did a minor redesign of some systems and came out a lot better. Flipping is a real world challenge--even a major one on the Mars Exploration Rover! Is NASA screaming about it?

[KenWittlief]

a person from the team that was pushed away went and really berated the team that did the pushing.

there is a technical term that psychologists use for people who exhibit this type of behaviour:

Sore Loser!

[fred]

Originally Posted by KenWittlief

there is a technical term that psychologists use for people who exhibit this type of behaviour:

Sore Loser!

more like sore winner because they won the match. If they had lost, it still would have been bad, but they won the match, what's to complain about. About tipping, it is just a part of the game and it is hard to tell if it was intentional or not. Example: Last year in Houston, we were with Buzz 175 in the playoffs. I think the refs accused Buzz of tipping and what had been a gigantic win for us turned into a 10-point loss. The whole thing was pretty bad because basically, one robot's arm got tangled up with another robot and both tried to pull away and one flipped. I think that even the other alliance was like "That's a penalty?" Fortunately for us, we were able to come back and win the next match and move on.