Two Questions Regarding Hurdling

[thefro526]

So I was thinking of a strategy with a mentor, and we were thinking about blocking a ball being hurdled with a launcher. Assuming that we make no contact with the robot hurdling is this legal?

I was thinking something along the lines of having our elevator all the way up braced against an opponents overpass. When the opponent would go to launch their ball it would hit our elevator and bounce off. I'm assuming that this is a legal move because we would have made no contact with the opposing robot and if we were bumped our robot would be moved.



Now for question 2. According to the manual a Hurdle is defined as: HURDLE: When a TRACKBALL CROSSES a FINISH LINE while passing above the OVERPASS
and then contacts either the floor or another ROBOT before re-contacting the originating ROBOT.

Does this mean that theoretically passing the trackball over is considered a hurdle?


I would Post in Q/A but I have no clue who has the Username and password

[GaryVoshol]

First question, legal yes. But wise? Some of those trackballs will be coming with a good velocity on them.

Second question, I don't understand what you're asking.

[thefro526]

In the second question I meant to ask is one robot passing the trackball to another robot a hurdle?

And I think If we braced our elevator right it could take the hit from a trackball

[EricH]

Originally Posted by thefro526

In the second question I meant to as is one robot passing the trackball to another robot a hurdle?

For the second question, I think it would be a hurdle.

[thefro526]

That is what I though the rule mean too.

[Scott Carpman]

I think for q2, you need to be more specific. I interpret your question to be this situation:

Blueabot Alpha is has just hurdled a blue trackball over the Blue Overpass. The ball lands in the Red homestretch and is picked up by Blueabot Beta. At this point Blueabot Alpha has passed under the Blue Overpass and completed a lap. Blueabot Beta decides to pass the blue trackball to Blueabot Alpha.

At this point, Blueabot Beta passes the ball from the opponents side of the field, over the Blue Overpass, and into the arms of Blueabot Alpha.

This does NOT count as a hurdle.
To complete a proper hurdle, the robot must be in it's own homestretch.

That is, if I interpreted your question correctly.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Scott Carpman

This does NOT count as a hurdle.
To complete a proper hurdle, the robot must be in it's own homestretch.

That is, if I interpreted your question correctly.

That is incorrect. To have the hurdling protection, a robot must be in it's own homestretch. Still a legal hurdle.

[Alex_Miller]

Also the ball has to hit the ground or a robot from the other alliance before anything else otherwise it doesn't count as a hurdle.

[Taylor]

From the GDC:

Rule <G42> protects a Robot and any Trackball that may be in its possession during the Hurdling attempt. The Trackball is only protected while it is in the possession of the Robot. If a Robot launches or throws a Trackball, then that protection is no longer in effect once the Trackball breaks contact with the Robot. So, an opposing Robot may attempt to block a launched Trackball. But any team building a Robot that will attempt to do so should be very aware of the effects of momentum, inertia, impulse loads on long moment arms, dynamic stability, and what happens when an unstoppable force strikes an immovable object.

[ALIBI]

Question One: Probably OK, however, most of the launchers that I have seen would not have any trouble pointing a little left or right to shoot around you unless your elevator is really wide (80").

Question Two: Yes. It looks like it will be OK to pass to another robot on your alliance as long as no part of that robot is in or above the home stretch and it must be clear to the refs that for at least a split second the trackball is not in contact with the catching robot after the trackball has completely passed the finish line. There are several Q&A's that get close to answering this question but none that specifically talk about the catching robot.

MasterAlex: I searched the rules and Q&A, I am sorry if I missed it, but I did not find anything that says it must be a robot from the other alliance. This could impact several strategies we are working on. Could you please point me in the right direction to find that ruling, I could have missed something. Thank you in advance.

[Wayne Doenges]

Unless you can reach over 11' high, our robot (Phoenix) will have no problem shooting over you

however, most of the launchers that I have seen would not have any trouble pointing a little left or right to shoot around you unless your elevator is really wide (80").

I would think most (if not all) can do this.

[dpc131]

Another thing to consider if this strategy is employed is the moment arm that is created by bracing against the overpass. I believe that if you are blocking and not attempting to hurdle a bump from another robot is allowed to signal a pass. Even a small bump to signal a pass may have devastating consequences.