Moving Backwards

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Xenozero

Ok, I know that this may be a silly question, but as we all know, if you grab a ball from the ground theres always a chance of missing, in terms of the game, is it possible to actually move backwards at all?, according to the rules you supposedly may move freely between a quadrant and may not go back to another quadrant after you crossed a marker and/or finish line. But most of the rules stress the general movement of counter clockwise movement ALL the time.
Can anyone clarify this, your help is much appreciated.

PROVIDED that you do not break the plane of a line, you can move anywhere you like. However, once you break the plane of the line ahead of you, you might want to keep going.

[David Brinza]

If you end up against the driver station wall, you have no almost no choice but to back up. I can't imagine that would be a penalty...

[richalex2010]

Our team decided that as long as the entire robot doesn't cross the line, you can go back (based mainly on the end of they hybrid period in the demo game where humans played "robots").

According to that, the blue alliance didn't get the extra points for crossing the line, because it was only halfway across. Also, there is a 4 point penalty for going backwards across after you've already crossed fully. We decided that it might be worth it if you have to go back to assist a trackball over the overpass.

-Jake Alexander

[EricH]

Originally Posted by richalex2010

Also, there is a 4 point penalty for going backwards across after you've already crossed fully. We decided that it might be worth it if you have to go back to assist a trackball over the overpass.

(emphasis mine)
Show me a four-point penalty in the rules. The only ones listed are 10 points, disable, DQ. Worth it? Maybe. Probably not.

[richalex2010]

I'm not sure where it is (if it exists), as I never saw it. That's what we had discussed today, though, and no one said anything to refute it, so I assumed that it was in there somewhere. I'll take a look and post something if it is there, though.

EDIT: Looks like you're right. There is no 4-point penalty; it's 10 points, deactivation, or disqualification. It is not worth it to travel back over the line at any point. I'll bring that to the attention of my team. Thanks for pointing that out, Eric.

[MGoelz]

CROSSING: The act of a TRACKBALL or ROBOT passing through the plane defined by a line (i.e. LANE MARKER or FINISH LINE) when it is projected vertically upwards. A TRACKBALL or ROBOT shall have CROSSED a line when all parts of the object, while traveling in a counterclockwise direction, have completely passed through the plane.

<G22> Direction Of Traffic – ROBOTS must proceed around the TRACK in a counter-clockwise direction. Once a ROBOT has CROSSED a LANE MARKER or FINISH LINE, it shall not break the plane of the line by moving in the clockwise direction. A PENALTY will be assigned for each infraction.

Based on rule <G22> and the definition of Crossing, there is nothing wrong with moving anywhere within a quadrant, as long as you don't break the plane of the lane divider lines or finish lines.
If you cross back a 10 point penalty will be applied, and if you start to cross the next line (moving counter-clockwise), then you probably want to keep going so no penalty can be applied.

I haven't found a rule against moving freely in a quadrant, providing you don't break the planes dictated by the lines.