Changes to rules mid-event? Rochester Regional

[The Lucas]

Originally Posted by purduephotog

3) We watched a field reset because all 6 teams started throwing balls into the court at '3-2-1- GO' instead of the tone. No penalties were assessed (should have been -20 or -30 per side). Earlier in the day we watched 3 teams pick up 10 point penalties for getting a ball into the court at '3-2-1-GO'. Perhaps, in the future, this should be set up similar to a drag race- No announcer, just a tone.

I had a similar question about the official start of the match after DC. We also had a false start match. I asked around and it turned out in DC they were actually syncing Blair's (MC) "3-2-1-GO" with the start of the match. Thus Blair's "3-2-1-GO" was the de facto official start of the match.

Actually tone is not really "official" or synced either. Remember in previous years drivers had to go by the clock not the tone when stepping forward after auto. Since you have to wait a second to figure out if the clock is running it is a very poor indicator. Probably the best indicator (and most fair to the robots and auto programmers) is the lights on the alliance station wall. They go solid when the robots are enabled at the start of of the match. Of course blinking vs. solid is not a very clear indicator to humans.

Anyways, as long as they pick an indicator and are consistent about it is not a problem.