Is FRC giving high CG robots a free pass on defense?

[marccenter]

Dear CD,

During match 164 of MSC while playing effective defense on two highly rated Michigan teams we tipped over team 107 when it was playing in a high CG position receiving a red card . Please see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IDr...ature=youtu.be at 64 seconds.

During regular FiM District play we focused primarily on offense capturing the #3 captain spot at Southfield, MI and was selected by 3604 to be part of the winning alliance. At Livonia, we were captains of an alliance until we became the first pick of a higher alliance.

At MSC we found ourselves switching between a primarily offensive role to one of defense depending on our alliance partners and opponents.

There are a number of significant concerns with the red card. One concern is it appears that has FRC given a "free pass" on defense being played on high CG robots.

If you watch the video, and I was six feet from the robot as the field coach, the robot tipped over before our driver had any means to respond. As a result, in the future the only advise I can provide to my driver and all FRC drivers is to not play any defense on high CG robots because the threat of a red card is too great).

The red card dropped us significantly in the rankings and most likely impacted our possible pick as an alliance member on one of the 16 alliances at MSC (another thread). As a corporate sponsored team qualifying for the World Championship at MSC can result in our registration fee being fully paid by our sponsor. If we had lost another game at MSC, the red card would have effectively cost FRC3548 $5000. Should red cards received by playing defense on high CG robots in this game have that much impact to any one team on any one call by one referee!

Is this a good time to introduce video replay on teams receiving red cards?

Is this a good time to let referees know the potential cost of a red card to a team?

One possible solution is receive an automatic yellow card with replay to determine if it is appropriate to receive a red card (more than one referee gets to make the $5000 call).

Your thoughts on this thorny issue? Will this be discussed on RoboZone soon?