I did wonder how the head ref and scoring table crew were supposed to make some robots engaged and others only docked, given that the API (and presumably the FMS) only has one variable per alliance.
Only major rule change is contact with a climbing robot during the endgame gives it a free engage.
Still nothing about charging stations getting stuck? Interesting. Not even clarification on when it is/isn’t a field fault. Edit: I should look at drawings
Official FIELD Drawings: GE-23300, Rev B, is updated to reflect a change to the orientations of the 4 Charge Station Pivot Hinge Assemblies (from the same to alternating).
See, this is interesting. When we were building the field at a week 1 event last week, we intentionally lined up the hinges on the same side because it seemed right and we werent sure it would function properly if alternating. Guess it can
I hope no one sleeps on the 22 → 23.1 driver station update rule cause that’s annoying to do at comp
Unfortunately that is usually the case when a mid-season update comes out. However, CSA’s usually will have a USB stick with the latest offline installer to help teams get to the correct version.
100% this. I normally have 3 setup, but I added 2 higher capacity (and write-protected) ones this year. Thankfully the 23.1 GameTools update doesn’t take more than a few minutes to run, so doing so at the event isn’t terrible.
Cries in uhaul already being packed…
Definitely going to be seeking out the csa.
“Continuing to work on repairs or modifications to the ROBOT is not considered making a good faith effort to be MATCH ready.”
If our robot is broken, and we are trying to fix it, I consider this a good faith effort to be match ready. If I put a dead robot out for the sake of making it by time 0, then our ROBOT is NOT match ready.
Just my 2 cents, no need reply.
What triggered this? I don’t see it in the update…
I believe it was part of an older update with a mix of the original rules.
No, it’s in this update. It’s a summary of what the rule actually says, though.
What if trying to fix it takes an hour. Or 2 or 3, and now the buildings being closed. I get there needs to be time for robot repair, but there also does need to be a clear cut rule of a cutoff where enough is enough. Is the current 15 minutes enough? That’s a whole extra discussion. But at some point the laws of time take over and would force something to happen.
This is also how we got to where we were before, by everyone just saying they need a few more minutes. At the end of the day it’s a competition, and there does need to be some sort of hard limit in place. And that limit does need to be hard. Not saying it should be at 15, but it does need to be a hard limit.
Imo the best option is likely going to involve some sort of penalty point system, likely that starts at 20 minutes, and by the time 30 minutes is hit too many penalty points have been given to make the match winnable for the delaying team.
At least what we have now is much better then previously. There isn’t a giant thread on CD after week one about a team getting the gates closed on them.
On that note, then perhaps we should get extra minutes that goes into some cumulative bank, if both alliances show up early ready to play.
Seems only fair and would encourage teams to show up early as an incentive in case a robot breaks in an alliance, where you may need more time later.
I’m admittedly torn with this rule…
On one hand I want our FTAs and HRs to practice Gracious Professionalism and interpret the “be on time” rule with some level of understanding of the specific circumstance, preferably with a lean to “let them play”.
On the other hand having a “line in the sand” rule protects the FTA/HR from appearing to show favoritism, and gives them the ability to deflect criticism when the rule is applied correctly.
That said, the number of corner cases here is significant… If we’re walking from our pits to the field and putting in the bumper pins as we go, we’re both technically match ready (as all the pins aren’t required to meet gameplay rules), but we’re also technically working on the robot as we walk. We’re also going to be on the field and really ready faster than if we stop work, get to the field and throw the last few pins in on the field as the robot boot up for 90 seconds.
This whole thing kinda feels like the timeout debacle from last year. I know this was already in the rules, but I really hope this doesn’t suddenly start causing issues at events 
At both of our events (week 0 + week 1), a warning was issued for a team being late to the field, and one instance was a tech foul for putting their battery in after putting the robot on the carpet.
I understand the wording of the rule, but I agree with you that getting the robot ready to play is a good faith effort. Should our partner have put a robot on the field without a battery instead?
We had a student adding a zip tie to secure something dangling and were given a warning that we weren’t making a good faith effort because someone had their hands in the robot.
At our week 1 event our partner was issued a two minute warning for being late. They had a broken robot from the previous match and a long walk to/from the pit. I appreciate the leniency of them being allowed to put on their bumpers and battery in while on the carpet. It seems to be a head ref call of what is a good faith effort and match ready.
Isn’t this why we have backup robots? Like if a repair is going to take an excessive amount of time then you call for a backup.
(Disclaimer: I haven’t been on the team side of things for a long time, but it if we’re talking about a hypothetical scenario of 30 minutes on top of a 15 minute break then it seems serious enough to call for a backup. I’m not talking about edge cases.)
I am honestly super on board with this. 30 seconds here and a minute there over the course of a few matches add up.