2005 Team Update #4 posted

[dez250]

I'll throw in a little more detail i got from FIRST at kickoff about why such a steep penalty. They are discouraging incidents in the loading zones partially due to it being a personal hazard. At all the Loading Zones, human player or 'automated', there will be people right there while the robots are interacting potentially 'outside' of the field. If a robot has a tetra in their grip on a 6' arm and is hit on the side and winds up hitting the human player or field reset crew member whos loading the automated zone, it can be a very dangerous situation. This should also be pointed out, a 30 point penalty can sway a whole match easily. So its as easy as if a robot is headed to or is in the loading zone, keep away from them, by doing this you will keep all the people around the field safe and keep yourself from being penalized.

This should be one of the rules where we dont ask how will the refs call it if its intentional or not. Thus should be a rule that is taken very seriously and hopefully followed strictly by all teams.