G13, G44 and Pinching Rollers

[Joe Ross]

Originally Posted by Wayne TenBrink

The question: If a "red" robot was parked on top of the bump next to the "blue" home zone, would/should they be penalized if a red robot pushed them off the bump and into the blue zone, making them the 2nd red bot in the blue zone? Is that part of normal contact or is that forcing a penalty? (For example, if my alliance is playing against 469 at the MARC and we put a robot on the bump right next to them, would we get a red card if somebody pushed that bot off the bump?)

My gut feel is that getting pushed in would be be considered forcing a penalty and not called. However, if the team that got pushed in did not try to immediately get out, it would then be a penalty. Getting pushed in isn't an excuse for having 2 robots playing defense in the opponents home zone.

[Tom Bottiglieri]

Originally Posted by TEE

Now, rule G13 (Causing Penalties) states "The actions of an ALLIANCE shall not cause an opposing ALLIANCE to violate a rule and thus incur PENALTIES. Any rule violations committed by the affected ALLIANCE shall be excused, and no PENALTIES will be assigned. ", essentially that if a robot causes another robot to break a rule, no penalty will be assigned. So, the question is, wouldn't pushing a robot with a pinching roller in such a way that caused it to carry a ball be an example of causing "an opposing alliance to violate a rule"?

I don't think so.

If your robot picks the ball up off the ground, it's a penalty. Another robot pushing you up the ramp didn't cause your rollers to keep a hold of the ball.

[sgreco]

Originally Posted by Tom Bottiglieri

I don't think so.

If your robot picks the ball up off the ground, it's a penalty. Another robot pushing you up the ramp didn't cause your rollers to keep a hold of the ball.

I agree, the reason the penalty was called was because the defending robot did not directly cause the picking up of the ball. True the ball wouldn't have been picked up if it weren't for the defence, but the mechanism caused the ball to be lifted not so much the act of the other robot pushing.

[ttldomination]

Originally Posted by sgreco

I agree, the reason the penalty was called was because the defending robot did not directly cause the picking up of the ball. True the ball wouldn't have been picked up if it weren't for the defence, but the mechanism caused the ball to be lifted not so much the act of the other robot pushing.

I think each year, many robots are built for intended purposes, and when the opposing alliance forces you to into a situation like that, then it is not the fault of the robot.

There are arguments for both sides, and I think that the easiest way would've been to talk to the head ref right after the match and see what really happened.

- Sunny