Ball Bouncing Out of Bounds?

[MasonMM]

Originally Posted by 1075guy

Also, the way that <S01> is worded they should have disabled you. Did they?

We were not disabled for bouncing the ball out of bounds, only penalized. It was unfortunate that while we were continuing to tweak our robot to fit within this criteria that was not available prior to the regional we still had points taken away. And by no means do we want to operate unsafely; we just want a consistent and available interpretation of the rules for tournaments all across the country.

[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by MasonMM

It was unfortunate that while we were continuing to tweak our robot to fit within this criteria that was not available prior to the regional we still had points taken away. And by no means do we want to operate unsafely; we just want a consistent and available interpretation of the rules for tournaments all across the country.

If regularly throwing (or even bouncing) trackballs completely out of the arena isn't a clear violation of <S1>, I don't know what is. Did you want the referees to keep ignoring your unsafe behavior while you "tweaked" your robot? It sounds to me like they were generous with you.

As a scorekeeper at Seattle (where the table was maybe three feet from the edge of the arena) and trainee scorekeeper at Portland, I am EXTREMELY grateful for the teams and referees that think my safety is important. While I appreciate that your intent was to modify your robot to become safer, while it was still throwing balls out of the arena the referees should have penalized and/or disabled your robot. Good intentions are necessary but not sufficient for safety.

[Richard Wallace]

As a volunteer I appreciate referees' erring on the side of caution, by taking steps to discourage gameplay that might result in someone (or some critical equipment) being hit by a flying trackball. I do agree those steps should be the same at all events.

As a mentor whose team built a catapult robot this year, I appreciated referees at both of our events who clarified the way they would be calling this during Thursday practice rounds. We were warned about potential <S1> penalties the first time that our poor aim sent a trackball over the side in St. Louis. Two weeks later during Thursday practice at Boilermaker, we were advised that a trackball clearing the overpass between the uprights, but landing out of bounds, would not be scored as a hurdle. This advice was confirmed by an official Q&A response a few days later, but the timely warning we got kept us from repeating the mistake on Friday or Saturday.

Looking at it from either perspective, the referees I've seen have made the right call when balls left the track.

[Dan Richardson]

LoL while announcing on Friday at Florida Team 103 launched a ball out of bounds and hit me in the head then almost knocked over a few thousand dollars worth of production equipment. No penalty was given it was completely accidental and really kind of an awkward bounce. Its really the only time I can remember it FLYING out of bounds, One almost did hit some drivers but it stayed in.

Let the boys play is my motto, no blood no foul, they had to assume balls would be ejected from the field, otherwise they wouldn't have put in the ball replacement rules. If a team does it consistently sure, warning/penalty based on S01 ( Tho I'm not sure how its supposed to be a 10 pt penalty, I thought it was just a yellow card ) but 1 or 2 times.. ehh give me a break lol.

[Brandon Holley]

Repeated violations of sending the ball out of bounds is a no no...

But lets face the facts, the ball is going to end up out of the playing field at some point in time. If your around the field area just keep an eye on whats going on and if a ball comes sailing your way (or towards another person for that matter) get out of the way or let the person know the are about to be stuck with a 10 pound projectile.

Balls launched from our catapult go quite high into the air : http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...hlight=mad+ups
However we were still able to keep the ball in bounds on every shot. While I dont konw if a 10 point penalty is per the rule book, it seems they gave you a fair shot to dial it down.

[jgannon]

Originally Posted by MasonMM

this criteria that was not available prior to the regional

Keep in mind that in 2005, you got disabled if you broke the plane of the driver station wall with a tetra, even if you didn't let go. Even without that experience, it shouldn't surprise anyone that actually launching a game piece of comparable weight over the wall would be considered a safety issue, particularly if done repeatedly. First be grateful that nobody got hurt, and then that your team didn't have to bear the full brunt of <S01> and <T04>. Best of luck getting your robot to operate safely before Bayou... 10 point penalties hurt, but not as much as getting hit in the face with a trackball.

[waialua359]

This is a gray area that is not specifically written in the rule book.
As long as fair warning has been given to allow a team to try and correct/modify a design function for the purpose of safety, its fair.
However, I dont think off the bat, a team should receive a penalty for it. Not that it happened already or if it occurs in the future.
Unlike in '06 when teams had to control shooter's ball speeds, there were no detailed guidelines about ball trajectories, speed, etc.