YMTC: Redabot Disrupts Ringers

[jgannon]

The word that makes <G09> problematic is "bulldozing". It creates somewhat of a fine line between two scenarios. One is driving through the home zone at full speed, hitting every ring you see, sometimes "incidentally" more than one, and by sheer force sending them all to the same corner. The other is pushing all of the tubes into the corner in a "controlled" manner. The intent of this rule is clear at the edges, but somewhat fuzzier toward the middle; maintaining possession of multiple rings at once is illegal, but running over a tube while carrying another won't be penalized. Unfortunately, I doubt that the GDC will be able to clarify this any further, because it will most likely be subjective at the time of occurance, dependent on intent and robot action. If the GDC doesn't rule explicitly on this, I would suggest trying your strategy during the practice day on Thursday, and then asking your head ref how they would rule it.

[Pavan Dave]

This one is a bit tricky. You have to pay attention to how many ringers it has touched and when they touch. If the bot touches more than one ringer, which it most probably will if it was herding, even by mistake, I would give them a penalty and if they continued, I would card them. BUT if they were very safe about it and did not touch any more than one ringer at a time I would say that the redbot knows the rules and has found a loophole in a way.

[Wetzel]

POSSESSION: a GAME PIECE is considered to be in the POSSESSION of a ROBOT if it is being fully supported by the ROBOT, or if the ROBOT is controlling the position and movement of the GAME PIECE. A GAME PIECE on the floor is considered to be in the POSSESSION of a ROBOT if it contacts the ROBOT at more than a single point (e.g. the ROBOT has a concave "plow" feature that is used to push the GAME PIECE in a controlled manner).

This would be fairly straightforward, except for that last sentence. I believe that the GDC was attempting to limit inadvertent herding penalty's with that sentence, but in this case it seems to allow the wall sweep. The last sentence adds another requirement to game pieces on the floor to be possessed. Because the ringers are on the floor, they must also contact the robot at more than a single point and is where I think that Redabot is OK.

However, reading <G09> negates all that reasoning by stating that any herding of multiple ringers is not ok.
[quote=<G09>Herding of multiple GAME PIECES, or herding of a GAME PIECE on the floor while in POSSESSION of another
GAME PIECE is not permitted (as this would be considered POSSESSION of more than one GAME PIECE).[/QUOTE]

Now, it is a rule without penalty. There are four levels of penalty in this years game.
1) Do nothing
2) 10 point penalty
3) Disable
4) Disqualify

<G09> Seems to be a Do Nothing penalty, much like putting an opponents ringer over one of their own ringers. I suspect there will be an update on this.

Wetzel

[jonathan lall]

The way I read the rules as they stand today, this is totally herding multiple ringers, thus handling, thus illegal. As they're written right now, I think it's pretty straightforward, though this is another one of those things I'm sure will be clarified.

If it turns out not to be illegal, you can be sure we'll be all over that strategy. And so should you.