Question about rules: Does ball damage count as field damage?

[Jevin H]

in the rules it says that a robot can't destroy the field, so what if the ball gets damaged? isn't the ball part pf the field?

[David Hoff]

Originally Posted by huff_dragon

in the rules it says that a robot can't destroy the field, so what if the ball gets damaged? isn't the ball part pf the field?

If a ball becomes unintentionally damaged through the course of match then there is no problem, but if a team intentionally cuts a ball in half or something then there would be a problem. That's how I interprut the rule

[Richard Wallace]

There was some earlier discussion on this topic. You can find it here. Probably in some other places, too.

Searching before you post is generally a good idea -- you find more useful information and get to the point you are interested in faster that way.

[Greg Needel]

Incidental ball destruction is bound to happen this year, FIRST is expecting this. Repeated ball destruction will probably be dealt with on a team to team basis.

Just think about the bins in 2003.

[gondorf]

i think that if a ball does get damaged it will kind of be hard to track because by the time someone notices the ball will have changed hands a dozen times

this is for small damage,not like the ball going through a cross shredder

[Bill Enslen]

Originally Posted by huff_dragon

in the rules it says that a robot can't destroy the field, so what if the ball gets damaged? isn't the ball part pf the field?

A ball is a game piece, not a part of the field, so those rules should not apply.

[psycho7]

Originally Posted by Greg Needel

Incidental ball destruction is bound to happen this year, FIRST is expecting this. Repeated ball destruction will probably be dealt with on a team to team basis.

Just think about the bins in 2003.

yeah, I remember the bins in "stack attack". it was insane, my team broke like 6-8 just in testing different box grabbing designs.


with this year, if your bot grabs onto the balls with say hooks then it will be considered damaging the field

[Lil' Lavery]

"Game pieces" are part of the field, or have usually been treated as such in the past.
As for how the rule will be judged, I would personally do it as such. If it is a clearly intentional strategy of a team to damage the balls (cutting them in half, etc), or if a team repeatedly damages balls (their launcher keeps ripping them or something) and the team does not fix the device, I would rule that they are damaging the field.

[dlavery]

Originally Posted by Bill Enslen

A ball is a game piece, not a part of the field, so those rules should not apply.

Game pieces (balls) are considered part of the field equipment (i.e. they are provided by FIRST to enable the game to be played at the event venue, and they are not parts of the robots provided by the teams). Rules that address damage to "the field" also apply to balls. So pay attention to Rule <G19> and <G20> - they matter!

[Matt Krass]

What constitutes ball damage? I've seen a lot of teams rip the outer coloring off the ball, but it still remains a spheroid and as far s our mechanism goes reacts the same way. Would this be considered field damage?

Images attached for reference.

[Nimmy]

that actually looks pretty bad considering it should be black and red
if your bot does that much damage in one shot (or even half that) I don't think it will slide...
but you have 1month left so get going and fix it =) good luck anyways

[Matt Krass]

That's actually after about 30 or 40 shots I think...and it'll be a little smoother in competition.