General Questions?

So after completely reading the rules, our team has yet some more questions!

Can the ball be dropped into the robot from the imbound station directly? i.e. the inbounder has too many balls and must immediately put them through he slot. So he drops it in and our robot just happens to be directly under it.

Is the robot on when put in the field? (were rookies and were not sure based on how BEST works)

What is concidered “in the key” when being protected or whatever?

  1. I see no rule prohibiting this. As such, it is probably allowed (but CD is not an official source of information). Ask the Q&A when it comes up to be sure.

  2. Off, then turned on once it’s on the ground in starting position. It will be in the disabled state, however.

  3. In contact with the key. See [G28].

Is the robot on when put in the field? (were rookies and were not sure based on how BEST works)

This is somewhat situation specific because some events for the sake of time ask you to turn on your robots in queue but for the most part it should be fine if you turn it on when you set it on the field.

What is concidered “in the key” when being protected or whatever?

**One does not have to be totally in the key to gain its protection. As long as a robot is contacting the key than it can’t be touched by an opponent robot. (G28). **

The Key is the solid color half circle. As long as you are touching that solid color Key area (not hovering over it - actually touching it), you are ‘protected’.

I think you have this confused…the human players on your alliance will be your inbounders, (the ones who could give you the balls).

This is incorrect.

From the perspective of a driver on the red team:
-Your inbounder is standing very close to you
-The red goals are on the far side of the field from you
-Your (red) alliance lane is to your right, and as such, the (red) inbounders on your team will be putting balls into the field from there.

http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&biw=1055&bih=725&tbm=isch&tbnid=sC3NwGl9njyLrM:&imgrefurl=http://frc-manual.usfirst.org/viewItem/55&docid=fAI_SblPVUKuRM&imgurl=http://frc-manual.usfirst.org/upload/2.1b.jpg&w=1006&h=550&ei=RXALT5CFLYOUiQLJ8_iLBA&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=457&sig=105044414026007613954&page=1&tbnh=111&tbnw=203&start=0&ndsp=12&ved=1t:429,r:3,s:0&tx=120&ty=49

I see my mistake and thanks

It is legal, but executing it may be difficult depending on your design. Remember that the Inbounders must remain behind the Starting Line (which involves throwing the balls through the slot), so the balls can, at best, be aimed in the general area of your robot’s collection system.