When going after the drawbridge and pulling down on it then going over it, that damages it, yes? So if you turn around and push down on the bridge does that damage the defense as well?
A DEFENSE is CROSSED by a ROBOT when that ROBOT
■ starts free of contact with the DEFENSE and completely in the NEUTRAL ZONE
■ traverses the DEFENSE such that its BUMPERS go fully between the adjacent SHIELDS/GUARDRAIL,
and
■ ends up fully contained by the opponent’s COURTYARD. (Section 3.1.3 of the game section)
Basically, it doesn’t count unless you start in the neutral zone. It wouldn’t be damaging, although you are able to cross back over it.
Damaging a defense is a one way deal.
Let’s say a team member opens the drawbridge for you from the back side. How much neutral zone directly in front of the open door do you have?
Lots… Having an alliance member open the drawbridge is a viable strategy for most robot configs. Of course, a quick look at the field drawings would verify if this is true for your particular config. The frc-field-drawings pdf package (2016FieldAssembly.pdf in particular) if you don’t want to open the CAD files will answer all your questions.
(Further hint: Sheet 3 has lots of very nice dimensions).
It really is a very fine manual…