GAME
General Announcements2012 Foul Process
Congratulations on surviving build season! Just a few things we wanted to remind you about before you head off to your first competition…
Your Head Referee and their Referee staff are here to work with you and ensure that we have consistent, fair play in all matches. If you have any concerns about what happens on the Court, a student player can go to either the red or blue question box at either end of the scoring table. As soon as the Head Ref has a moment, they will talk to them there. One big change this year though, normal Fouls are not up for discussion – Technical-Fouls, cards and general concerns are all open for discussion – just not normal Fouls. We don’t enter or record any details about them, other than their occurrence. This approach is very similar to other sports where basic calls aren’t challengeable.
Recall that this year Fouls will be called and updated in real time. When a Referee sees a Foul committed, they will first raise their flag, point to the offending Robot, and, they will also issue a hand signal (if the Foul is one of the six that we predicted to be the most likely). Those hand signals are how Teams learn what Foul has been called – more details on them can be found under Section 3 - The Game on the Competition Manual section of the FIRST Website. The Referee will then enter the Foul into the scoring system, which will credit the other alliance with points – kind of like a free-throw in basketball or a penalty kick in soccer – only the points are guaranteed in our case – and credited immediately.
All of that means that about fifteen seconds after the buzzer in any Match, the score you see on the screen will be the final score – no more waiting for adjustments. (Issuing of a Yellow or Red Card may take another minute or so to make sure we get the details right, but cards don’t affect the score in the current Match during the Qualification portion of the Tournament.)
Lastly – Rule [G44] says that you cannot be penalized for something your Robot does that was directly caused by the actions of your opponent. It does have an exception though – it doesn’t affect Rule [G28]. Any time an opponent contacts a Robot that touching its Key, Alley or Bridge – it’s a Foul on the opponent – no matter who caused it to happen. So be careful – and provide plenty of breathing room in those areas.
Cutting the Nets
In the tradition of customary Basketball, there will be an opportunity for the winning Alliance and the Chairman’s Award winning team to each cut down one net as a souvenir of the competition and of their success. As the final event during the Awards Ceremony, the drive teams from the winning Alliance will be invited to come onto the Court and join the Chairman’s Award winning team to cut down one net per team. The ceremonies will conclude and the audience will be dismissed as the drive teams make their way to the Court.
One member from each team will be provided with cutters and may cut down one net, one at a time, safely and expeditiously. A ladder may not be used; however those cutting the nets may stand on the Fender.
The net from the Top Basket will be reserved for the Regional Chairman’s Award winning team.
GAME
The Robot
The 2012 FRC Inspection Checklist has been updated to Rev C and is now available under Section 4 - The Robot on the Competition Manual section of the FIRST Website.
I, for one, am incredibly excited that they’re letting us cut the nets!
This would make winning a regional soo much more memorable!
