does anyone know if it is legal to have more than one tetra on your robot at a time?
I’m pretty sure that you ARE in fact allowed to carry more than one. You are only permitted to pick ONE up at a time, but I couldn’t find anything in the rules prohibiting you from storing them or capping multiple at one time.
The only thing I’ve found is that once receiving a tetra the robot must backaway from the loading zones until the tetra has a)been replaced by a volunteer (the automatic loading zones) or b)the human player has returned to the pressure pad and grabbed another tetra.
yeah! my team agrees with what you said. you do have to back away, but i assume at the automated loading station you just back away and then drive back up unlike the human station where the person has to go all the way back to the pressure pad and then back to the robot. 
Correct, you back away and come back, but the human player doesn’t need to do anything. Just remember, this is a human field attendant we are talking about and, for safety reasons, your robot better not look like it’s coming back to the trough too fast or dangerously, or there won’t be another tetra there yet.
<G14> Field attendants will place TETRAS on the Tetra Loading Stations on the side of the field opposite the
HUMAN PLAYERS (ie. the “automated” LOADING ZONE). At any time, a ROBOT may enter the
corresponding LOADING ZONE, retrieve the TETRA from the Loading Station, and enter it into play. The
HUMAN PLAYER does not have to leave the pressure pad sensor during this operation. When the TETRA
is removed from the Loading Station and the ROBOT has left the LOADING ZONE, the field attendant will
place a new TETRA on the Loading Station. Robots may not intentionally interfere with field attendant’s
efforts to place TETRAS on the Loading Stations.
Also keep in mind the tetras have to be placed rather carefully on the stands to prevent them from falling into the field. I saw them upclose at kickoff, and if the attendent throws it on, it’ll bounce right off onto the field. It’ll take some time to reset, though much less than the human player side.
The rule says that you have to leave and come back before you get another tetra. But there are 2 seperate docking stations next to each other.
So I think you could just spawn camp the loading zone, and go back and forth between the two, taking them as they get replaced untill you fill up your bot.
that sounds reasonable right?
Hm… I hadn’t thought about that. If an attendant accidentally dropped a tetra onto the field, what would be the ruling on that particular piece? Would you be allowed to touch/use it? I can’t imagine them reaching onto the field to pick it up, since that would be a safety issue, but they couldn’t just leave it as a new obstacle on the field. This is something that I don’t see happening often, but it’s something to consider.
Would a robot be allowed to position itself near the automatic loading station, then extend an arm to grab the tetra, without the robot actually being in the loading station? And how is the loading station defined?
I think there is an actual designated loading pad on the field that your robot must be on top of for it to either get loaded by the human player or take the tetra from the automatic loading table. They will watch to make sure it’s completely on before you get the tetra.
2 things…
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i was trying to figure out if the 2 auto loaders were considered 1 loading zone or if each of them is separate…this could be important because if they are separate you could go back and forth between them and speed up your time not wasting robot movements
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I really wish first would make the autoloader volunteer an extra human player from the alliance competing that way there would be some standard in proformance in loading time…for example if someone wrote auto code that loaded tetras on the robot by going to the station and grabbing backing up then grabbing another knowing it will be there will be a big advantage…also not to put down volunteers but if the red alliance volunteer is an old lady and the blue alliance volunteer is a teenager there is going to be a big difference in speed of reset
*not intended to offend any older members of CD 
LOADING ZONE – The triangular colored area on the floor at the sides of the field where robots may receive
and/or retrieve TETRAS that are introduced into the game.
<G14> Field attendants will place TETRAS on the Tetra Loading Stations on the side of the field opposite the
HUMAN PLAYERS (ie. the “automated” LOADING ZONE). At any time, a ROBOT may enter the
corresponding LOADING ZONE, retrieve the TETRA from the Loading Station, and enter it into play. The
HUMAN PLAYER does not have to leave the pressure pad sensor during this operation. When the TETRA
is removed from the Loading Station and the ROBOT has left the LOADING ZONE, the field attendant will
place a new TETRA on the Loading Station. Robots may not intentionally interfere with field attendant’s
efforts to place TETRAS on the Loading Stations.
The things I am wondering about are a) it says the loading zone is the triangle, but it also says you can “enter” it. Triangles are two dimensional and you cannot enter something two dimensional. Does simply occupying the air above it count as entering the loading zone, or must the robot actually touch the triangle? and b) how rapidly will the stations be reloaded?
Another problem about this subject…
can I drop more than one tetra at the same time? For example, takin’ three tetras using only one mechanism and droppin’ them together.
I don’t see anything that says otherwise.
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/showpost.php?p=316048&postcount=24
Interpreting the rule, you must be touching the floor triangle to be considered “in” the loading zone.
Ok so let me see if i’m understanding this thread…
- we are able to carry more then 1 tetra provided we dont pick them both up at once
- we can go back and forth between the different manual/automated loading stations stacking up as many tetras as the robot can hold
Does this sound accurate?
- we are able to carry more then 1 tetra provided we dont pick them both up at once **from a loading zone. (feel free to pick up as many tetras at once from the floor as you wish)
**2) we can go back and forth between the different manual/automated loading stations stacking up as many tetras as the robot can hold or stay at the same loading zone, just keep leaving it and re-entering it in between tetra pickips