Driving Robots under/into the Goals ... allowed?

[erniep]

Hi All,
Just a quick check. It seems that the robots should be able to drive over the bottom tubes of the goals and into the interior of the goal, if needed to stack tetras. The rules have a comment which seems to disallow this:

<G20> ROBOTS may push or react against any elements of the field, provided there is no damage or disruption of the field elements. ROBOTS may not grab, grasp, grapple or attach to the GOALS or any other field structure. Robots may not extend under, lift up or tip over a GOAL. If a ROBOT violates this rule, the referee will give one warning. If the referee determines that the team is disregarding the warning, or the actions affect the outcome of the match, the team’s ROBOT will be disabled for the remainder of the match.
If a GOAL is tipped over, it is automatically OWNED by the opposing alliance for the remainder of the match.

It's the "Robots may not extend under" part that concerns me. My guess is that they mean under the bottom tubes of the goal, but that is an interpretation. What is the community concensus?
Thanx, erniep

[MikeT]

i would have to agree with you on that one... our team was discussing this issue as well. It sounds like (according to the rule) that your robot cannot extend a mechanism underneath the base of the triangle. Kind of like last year where u couldnt extend your robot underneath the mobile goal. But i suppose it would be ok to climb over the base and chill under the goal... just as long as u dont tip it over.

[Dorienne]

I think this means that if you go under a tetra for any reason, you cannot extend an arm or whatnot while your robot is under the tetra. This could malfunction, and they don't want your team getting a penalty for accidental damaging of the tetras.

[jakk]

--->i saw that too. i think that there is a small space between the ground and the goal frame since the tetra goals are made out of aluminum pipe and PVC end caps. the end cap causes the goal to rise a little. i think you are not allowed to go UNDER the goal but you can go INTO the goal. how else would you score the 1 point or knock tetras out of the goals?

[Jeff Rodriguez]

FIRST Q/A ID 1078

Q:Can a robot be driven through a goal if it does not break any other rules?
A:Yes

[Steven Carmain]

We wondered about this also(the gap on the ground). The rules say that the middle goal will be secured to the ground with velcro(no gap). But, the other goals never mention about being velcroed down. We thought we could push a goal anywhere on the field...

[Joshua May]

Originally Posted by Steven Carmain

We wondered about this also(the gap on the ground). The rules say that the middle goal will be secured to the ground with velcro(no gap). But, the other goals never mention about being velcroed down. We thought we could push a goal anywhere on the field...

This has been answered in the Q/A section, the other goals are in fact velcroed to the ground.

[Jeff Rodriguez]

Originally Posted by Steven Carmain

We wondered about this also(the gap on the ground). The rules say that the middle goal will be secured to the ground with velcro(no gap). But, the other goals never mention about being velcroed down. We thought we could push a goal anywhere on the field...

FIRST Q/A ID 995
Q:Will the large tetras, other than the center one, be secured to the floor with velcro?
A:Yes.

They have the Q/A section for a reason.

[Lil' Lavery]

Also, beyond the Q&A, just look in another thread in the strategy section, stackable robots