G204 will be fun

Competition Rules/Strategy
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G204

  • Stay out of other ROBOTS. A ROBOT may not use a COMPONENT outside its FRAME PERIMETER (except its BUMPERS) to initiate contact with an opponent ROBOT inside the vertical projection of that opponent ROBOT’S FRAME PERIMETER. Contact with an opponent in an opening of their BUMPERS is an exception to this rule.

This appears to mean that any contact (not just contact that results in damage) is penalized. Intakes, beware

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Wasn’t this the case for a long time? Though now you can hit the defenders frame if they intentionally leave it open.

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This is a good point. Last year, our intake was in the perimeter, but we were discussing not doing a C bot this year.

It does say initiate, so as I read it: if we ran into you (with nothing out of our robot perimeter), and our bot hit your intake (which was outside of yours), we would not get a penalty, but neither would you if you went into our bot and there was no damage.

However, if we pushed your robot into another bot on our alliance, that may be up to interpretation, yes?

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I don’t mind this change. In previous years it was always tough for refs to define whether contact was “intentional” or “damaging”. But it will change how we design robots. My advice: Make sure your mechanisms can retract inside your frame perimeter and/or put vertical walls on your extensions so they intersect the bumper zone (even if that makes intakes a little less good)

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The rule was pretty much the same for Infinite Recharge.

G24. Stay out of other ROBOTS. A ROBOT with a COMPONENT(S) outside its FRAME PERIMETER may not initiate direct contact with an opponent ROBOT inside the vertical projection of its FRAME PERIMETER using that COMPONENT.
Violation: FOUL per contact.

While there were rampant tech foul calls for the slightest touch of an opponent robot in the loading zone or target zone, I saw very few calls on this rule for a robot trying to intake and happening to contact an opponent (which was over the bumpers for most intake designs). Playing defense with an intake extended was penalized much more often in my experience.

Not saying that you shouldn’t plan for complying with the letter of this rule, but I’m not sure it will be the foul-generating-machine that it seems like it could be.

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In 2020 the fuel balls were shorter than the bumper zone, so it was less likely your intake would reach into another robot. In 2022 the cargo balls are 9.5" diameter, and bumpers are < 7.5" tall so a single top roller intake is definitely going to cross into the frame perimeter.

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@Fields Not really. They just adjusted it in 2020. (If you heard about 2019, Week 5, you’ll know why. If you haven’t… an old rule became the focus of enforcement.) But a similar rule has been on the books for a while.

So, the key word is “Initiate”, and “outside its Frame Perimeter”. If Redabot runs into Blueabot, there are a few possible options.

  1. Neither is outside Frame Perimeter. G204 does not apply. However, there may be a risk of G205 or G206 (they run as a set, if you will–but only one can be called, which is nice).
  2. Blueabot is outside the Frame Perimeter but not moving and Redabot slams into their extension. No call–Blueabot didn’t initiate.
  3. Redabot is outside the Frame Perimeter and contacts Blueabot inside their Frame Perimeter. Foul on Redabot, who initiated.
  4. Both robots charge with intakes out, both contact inside each others’ Frame Perimeter. One foul apiece as BOTH initiated.

G204 is a pretty mild penalty–it’s a foul. Once you start getting damage, it ramps up–and damage isn’t dependent on whether you’re outside your frame perimeter. But that’s G205 and possibly G206.

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