FAHA/YMTC: DOGMA Penalties for Seeding Points

[Bharat Nain]

Ethical dilemmas are a part of life. Sometimes, due to their extreme nature, a poster might want to stay anonymous. What do you think of this anonymous YMTC?

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At the 2010 Atlantis Regional:

Team OneABot is ranked #1
Team TwoABot is ranked #2
Team ThreeABot is ranked #3
Team FiftyABot is ranked dead last at #50

Historically, the Atlantis Regional has been dominated by OneABot and TwoABot. They have won every Atlantis Regional to date, with one of them always ranking #1 and picking the other.

Team ThreeABot has a very good robot. In fact, their robot is probably good enough to win the regional if OneABot and TwoABot can be split up. However, it is a forgone conclusion that OneABot and TwoABot will win if they are able to pick each other.

In the very last qualification match, ThreeABot and FiftyABot are against each other. FiftyABot tells ThreeABot that they want to help ThreeABot get the #1 seed, and they'll do whatever it takes. ThreeABot needs 20 seeding points this match to rank first, but are faced with a grim outlook: they are the only robot in the match that can score.

Here is how the match unfolds:

1) ThreeABot quickly scores 1 point for themselves in autonomous.

2) ThreeABot then begins to start scoring for their opponents as teleop starts.

3) FiftyABot's human player is manning the trident, and "disaster" strikes on the very first ball. The HP taps the ball to push it down the rail, but the ball slides off the rail and onto the field without going through the sensor.

4) Shortly after, the DOGMA light turns on, and stays on the rest of the match.

5) The match ends with the score before penalties: 1 to 8 (ThreeABot loses)

7) DOGMA penalties wipe out all 8 of the goals scored for FiftyABot's alliance, and the final score is posted: 1 to 0 (ThreeABot wins)

8) ThreeABot's seeding points: 5 (win bonus) + 1 (their score) + 16 (2X unpenalized loser) = 22

Questions:

1) As a head ref, how would you score this match?
2) As either ThreeABot or FiftyABot, would you consider a strategy like this?
3) How do you feel about teams ThreeABot and FiftyABot, are they blatant cheaters, or just very clever?

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