Rule <G30>

[yarden.saa]

the rule <G30> c.:
TOWER Contact ROBOT Volume - During a MATCH, ROBOTS in contact with their ALLIANCE TOWER may extend beyond their NORMAL CONFIGURATION volume but may not exceed the FINALE CONFIGURATION maximum volume.


Do I need to touch the tower in order to extand to the FINALE CONFIGURATION maximum volume?

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by yarden.saa

Do I need to touch the tower in order to extand to the FINALE CONFIGURATION maximum volume?

During the first 100 seconds, yes.

In the final 20-second FINALE PERIOD, no.

[Radical Pi]

Also remember that if you stop touching the tower at any point before finale you get a penalty and yellow card. It's a very risky operation

[Grim Tuesday]

Furthermore, these bumps can be caused by enemy robots, hoping to get you a yellow card!

[Radical Pi]

Originally Posted by Grim Tuesday

Furthermore, these bumps can be caused by enemy robots, hoping to get you a yellow card!

Not really. Depending on how the refs interpret the forced penalty rule, it might be waived if you run straight back to the tower

[yarden.saa]

quote:
Not really. Depending on how the refs interpret the forced penalty rule, it might be waived if you run straight back to the tower


if I go to the tower its 100% legal to open my robot to the height of the finale?

[Alexa Stott]

Originally Posted by yarden.saa

quote:
Not really. Depending on how the refs interpret the forced penalty rule, it might be waived if you run straight back to the tower


if I go to the tower its 100% legal to open my robot to the height of the finale?

Pretty much as long as you're making a legitimate attempt to hang and are in contact with the tower, yes.

Be careful, however. There were some teams that extended to the finale configuration and attempted to head for the tower, got caught up on the ball return, and were penalized as such. Wait until you are directly next to/in front of the tower to extend, and you should be fine.

Of course, it is always a good idea to ask at the driver's meeting how the refs will be interpreting the rule at each individual event.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by Alexa Stott

... as long as you're making a legitimate attempt to hang ...

That's not a requirement

... and are in contact with the tower, yes.

But that is

Originally Posted by <R30>

c. TOWER Contact ROBOT Volume - During a MATCH, ROBOTS in contact with their ALLIANCE TOWER may extend beyond their NORMAL CONFIGURATION volume but may not exceed the FINALE CONFIGURATION maximum volume.

Of course, it is always a good idea to ask at the driver's meeting how the refs will be interpreting the rule at each individual event.

I am confident their referee will be calling it correctly.

[Steve W]

Please note:

"Section 7 – The Game, Rev D has been updated to include the following edits:
<G37> Permitted ROBOT to ROBOT Contact - Breakaway is a highly interactive game. Robust construction of ROBOTS will be very important in this high-speed competition. ROBOTS should be designed to withstand the contact that will occur during the MATCH. Appropriate contact is allowed under the following guidelines for which no PENALTY will be assigned:
Section 7 – The Game
a. b. c.
High speed accidental collisions may occur during the MATCH and are an expected part of the game.
Incidental contact, both inside and outside the BUMPER ZONE, is to be expected and is generally acceptable.
Contact outside the BUMPER ZONE is an expected part of the game during the following scenarios:
i. for ROBOTS on a RAMP or BUMP,
ii. for ROBOTS that have been tipped and are not attempting to right themselves,
iii. for ROBOTS that have exceeded their NORMAL CONFIGURATION volume to right themselves or an ALLIANCE partner as permitted by Rule <G30> and have either exceeded the 10-second grace period permitted by Rule <G32> or completed the righting operation,
for ROBOTS that have exceeded their NORMAL CONFIGURATION volume to interact with a BALL as allowed by Rule <G30-a>, and
for ROBOTS in the process of being ELEVATED or SUSPENDED prior to the FINALE.
iv. v.
Please note that a ROBOT that is ELEVATED before the FINALE is not protected from contact by opponent ROBOTS. Any FIELD damage or BALL RETURN damming caused by the ELEVATED ROBOT before the FINALE will be considered the fault of the ELEVATED ROBOT, regardless of whether or not the motion originated with an opponent ROBOT."

From update 4 I believe.

[yarden.saa]

thank you all!,
in my team vase our robot need 17 sec. in order to be elevated. we wanted to save time and 10 seconds before the finale period to be in front of the tower and to open our hanging arm to its height of 2.16 meter.
is it okay in that case that oir robot is infront of the tower and not touching the alliance tower to be in the height of the finale?

[Taylor]

It needs to be touching if you're outside the finale time.

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by Alexa Stott

When I mentioned making a legitimate attempt to hang, I brought that up because there is almost certainly going to be some time that elapsed between when you extend and when you come into contact with the tower. Teams would go next to/in front of the tower then extend. For example, we would deploy our hanging mechanism, connect to the tower, then finish the hang. This resulted in maybe 1-2 seconds or so where we were not in direct contact with the tower. Many other teams may take a similar amount of time to properly align their mechanisms. Technically, if we are following the rule in its strictest interpretation, then yes, we and many other teams would have been penalised. The spirit of the rule, I believe, is to just make sure teams aren't deploying large mechanisms then driving all around willy nilly before the finale.

And here we went to all the trouble of designing a system that fit inside the rules without any fuzziness or interpretation by the refs...

At any rate, I think you may be in for a shock at further regionals. The rules are pretty explicit that you need to be in contact with the tower to extend outside the normal configuration. Don't assume you can get away with it at another regional even if the refs let you get away with it last week. If you're extending before the finale and without contacting the tower, you have precisely no argument against a ref penalizing you for it. And giving you a yellow card.

So, I think it's a really good idea to just plan to obey the rules instead of depending on refs not calling them. That way, if the refs at your next event are stricter, you've still got a workable system.