Warning: Don't Touch Your Robot

[archiver]

Posted by Jeff Burch, Engineer on team #45, TechnoKats, from Kokomo High School and Delphi Delco Electronics Systems.

Posted on 3/29/99 11:06 AM MST


In Reply to: Re: Warning: Don't Touch Your Robot posted by Chris on 3/29/99 10:26 AM MST:



: Chris Wrote ...
:...
: BUT (there's always a but), if the situation occurred as you described,
: I don't know if I completely agree with the DQ call. In the rule book,
: it states that a human player is allowed to touch a robot for reasons of
: personal protection. If the human player was losing his/her balance and
: was about to fall on the robot, it would be foolish not to grab the robot
: as the human player would surely be more likely to get hurt falling on
: the robot than touching it. However, if the human player was doing
: something questionable that caused him/her to lose balance, then perhaps
: it was the human player's fault and the DQ was warranted. This is a
: tricky issue. I wish I would have seen the infraction.

The question of personal safety was discussed. The referees decided that
by leaning into the interaction zone the student was putting himself at risk
as opposed to the robot doing something that put the human player at risk.
Andy and I are teammates and I agree that the referees made the correct call.
The fact that this rule was not strictly enforced doesn't mean it should not
have been enforced here, but it did make it more dificult for the students
to deal with.

I don't agree that the match should be ended in the eliminations when a
team is disqualified. Although it's not very likely, there is a chance
the other alliance may also do something that disquilifies them before
the match is over.

Jeff Burch