Solution for uniform ramming penalty calls

[MGoelz]

I don't know how you would go about finding a way that was absolutely fair. No matter what they come up with, there are going to be flaws. I didn't hear the refs calling many penalties on ramming, if at all. There were a few, but I personally think there were many more instances in which there could have been a call made on being a little over-aggressive.

Wasn't there something about intentional ramming? I don't remember, but I think that it is clear who is purposely out there to tear you up, and who is just trying to prevent you from scoring. It's a tough call. I don't think there really is anybody who's sole purpose of building their robot is to destroy all the others. That wouldn't be displaying gracious professionalism.

I think this will always be a problem; it's one of those things that is really prone to human error. Our eyes can't analyze each situation and the impact on each robot. Although...it would be pretty amazing if we could.

[Kelly]

On the other hand, some sort of shock sensor in the kit would have been pretty neat for autonomous this year. Drive towards the rack until you hit it then hang a ring.

[JBotAlan]

Originally Posted by Kelly

On the other hand, some sort of shock sensor in the kit would have been pretty neat for autonomous this year. Drive towards the rack until you hit it then hang a ring.

By special request, FIRST would ship any team an accelerometer and yaw rate gyro for free; the accelerometer gives you an analog value based on how much acceleration it is under at any given time. This could be used as a "shock sensor" the way you describe.

Yeah, my idea was fun to entertain for a little while...I see why it can't really be implemented. However, it is a fun idea to store all of this data on a dashboard computer. I just might have to try that...

JBot