So this is what the manual says: “Teams may unlock their robot for a total of six (6) hours during the 7-day period preceding any two-day event in which their team will be competing with their robot. The six hours may be broken up in any way the team wishes, with the exception that no single access period may be shorter than two (2) hours. The robot must be locked up in between sessions and this must be documented on the Robot Lock-up Form each time.”
Does this mean for a competition that is Friday-Saturday that the unbag period is the Thursday the week before or the Friday the week before? Thanks.
I interpret it as Friday. If you take the 7 days before the he competition, the last of those 7 is the day before the competition, which is a Thursday.
The manual you quoted mentions the 7-day PERIOD preceding an event. The period would 7 days before the event and the six hours can be distributed however you want (as long as each section is at least 2 hours) between the start time of the 7-day period and the start of the event.
This is an interesting question. The “two-day” events are actually 3 days long, with a load-in/inspection day before the two days of qualifications. Since the wording says these competitions are two-day events, does that mean the first day doesn’t count?
For what it’s worth, FIRSTWA refers to their events 3-day events, specifying schedules for Days 1, 2, and 3.
My to-the-letter interpretation of this rule is that you can legally start using unbag time exactly one week (168 hours) before the official time the event starts. If the Glacier Peak District Event starts at 5:00 PM on Friday, March 11, then teams attending the event would be permitted to begin using unbag time no earlier than 5:00 PM on Friday, March 4.
I would encourage playing it on the safe side and waiting until the event is obviously less than a week away, though. No need to risk an inspector ruling differently than how you feel the rule should be interpreted.
PS: For teams competing Week 3, how does Spring Forward play into this rule? :ahh:
