Is it possible to kick the ball through the secret passage?
it may not be as effective as going on the floor and punching the ball, with more power and accurecy
You can for your secret passage, but
G27 states: A ROBOT may not transfer BOULDERS from the NEUTRAL ZONE to the opponent’s SECRET PASSAGE.
Violation: TECH FOUL per BOULDER
So that rules out kicking a ball through the opposing alliance’s secret passage from the neutral zone. I suppose you can kick it backwards, but that would be very counterproductive.
Your not allowed to move the ball through to the opponents Courtyard in any way shape or form without carrying or following the ball into the opponents zone and then backing back into the neutral zone. Just lobbing balls results in tech fouls.
Would it be legal to pick up a boulder from midfield and roll it through one of the defenses to your alliance partner for them to pick it up and score it?::rtm::
See G40.
G40: A ROBOT may not cause a BOULDER to move from the NEUTRAL ZONE into the opponent’s
COURTYARD unless:
A. the ROBOT contacts the BOULDER within OUTER WORKS, and
B. the ROBOT completes its CROSSING (i.e. doesn’t completely back out of the OUTER
WORKS into the NEUTRAL ZONE)
Violation: TECH FOUL per BOULDER
Once you move the boulder into the opponent’s courtyard, another robot can take control of the boulder, but your robot must both come in contact with the boulder in the outer works, and pass through the defense. So you cant nudge one through, but I see no harm in giving it to another bot as long as your robot went through the defense.
Hope this helped 
I at least think the OP was referring to a Human Player kicking the ball through the Embrasure to return it to play instead instead of bowling it.
I see no reason or rule why not, other than bowling might be easier.
The only problem I could think of from kicking the boulders is the ball could pick up and carry over the defenses. If a team finds a member that can kick the boulders in the right way then they won’t have to send bots back to move boulders across the defenses.
This is actually something my team talked about for a little while today. There don’t seem to be any rules prohibiting kicking the boulder as opposed to just rolling it, it just depends on whether you would rather it to go further down the field or be aimed more accurately.
The fact that the low bar is right in front of the SP makes it seem pretty likely that with enough power it would bounce over into the courtyard or out of the field entirely. G40 essentially says that robots can’t cause boulders to move from the neutral zone to the opponent’s courtyard without being in contact with them and crossing as well, but doesn’t say anything about human players. The refs probably wouldn’t be thrilled with that strategy, but I can’t find anything prohibiting it (unless I’m missing something).
Mackenzie Glaser
Robo Lions 1261
As previously mentioned, I don’t see a rule prohibiting it now, but it will probably be disallowed in a Q and A or manual update pretty soon. I don’t think that’s within the spirit or nature of the game, so I couldn’t imagine them wanting to allow it.
I don’t think it would bounce out with enough control. Foam dodgeballs like the boulders pick up and slow down easy so it should be easy to kick it right so it gets past the defenses and just drops.
That rule applies to ROBOTS causing the boulder to move from the neutral zone to the opposing alliance’s courtyard, not HUMAN PLAYERS.
In other words, toasters with collectors are a very, very valuable asset. Imagine this- a kitbot drivetrain, with a basic external collector, just some polycord on a tube, spinning on the front of the bot. If that can hold a ball, go through the low bar, and back out, you’ve just put a ball in position for a shooter to score it very conveniently. I have a feeling cheesecake will be making a return.
The 2016 FIRST Field Tour Video makes reference to how the feeder stations and how they are intended to be used.
One quote from the video is:
“It is imperative for your own safety that you don’t reach through these openings, even a little bit. The embrasure is a tight fit for the boulders, so your human player will need accurate bowling skills.”
My interpretation of the quote from the video is that FIRST will not want or allow human players to kick the ball through the openings if there is a possibility that their foot could ‘reach through’ one of the openings, for safety reasons.
TopperBots
Team 4230 :: Duluth, MN :: topperbots4230.com
There is no foul until it happens. Unless you have a really long foot, you’re not going to be able to get it through the EMBRASURE. See Figure 2-26.
Also note that the line you quoted from the video is not entirely correct. I leave it as an exercise for the reader (*) to figure out why. But it points out why we cannot rely on the videos to interpret the rules. Those who have FLL experience should have learned it long ago.
(*) Don’t you hate it when the math book did that?
If I am understanding what you said correctly, they designed the low bar so that the boulders are not able to push through and therefore, there is really no risk of the ball going out or onto the other side. As for kicking the ball, it is not prohibited in the rules, but I don’t recommend it as the balls are easy to deform, damaging the ball can result in a foul, the refs may notice and stop everyone from the strategy, and also if you somehow miss the ball or kick it in a different direction and you cause disruption of the game, damage or distract your drivers that can be a problem. But of course, this is just my opinion.
so can your hand if you think about it