I’ve seen many discussions here regarding ideas pertaining to the possible implementation of video review. The calls became more apparent after Einsteins Finals 1 when 254 was in possession of three cargo balls and received no penalty for it.
I think a very simple implementation for video review without delaying matches too much is putting it in playoffs only. I think that video reviews in Qualification rounds would delay events even further than what they already are.
One possible idea would be that each of the eight alliance captains receives one challenge. They may use a challenge to have a video review in any playoff match. If the challenge is successful, then the change of the game occurs in their favor. However, an alliance must have not used its timeout yet since if the challenge is unsuccessful, then the alliance would lose their timeout. This way, challenges do not occur on menial penalties and reduce the chance of significantly delaying events.
I think this is the most possible implementation of some form of video review. What do you guys think? What do you think is the best way to implement video review?
I agree that video reviews are especially important in playoffs; nobody wants to end their season because of a missed call.
Some adjustments I’d make, though.
Video review stays separate from timeout coupons. Every alliance gets a “video review coupon”; if their challenge is successful, they retain it. If the call doesn’t change, then they lose it to prevent “hail mary” challenges.
Video review should only be used for match affecting situations.
one note i would change is that there should always be video review for red cards, even in quals as something as aggressive as a red card can really hurt a teams chances in quals and it should usually be a pretty easy thing to check
I agree that it should be allowed only in playoffs (match-affecting calls), except for red cards. During quals, every red card is automatically reviewed, and like Seth said, a separate “video review” card akin to a timeout card.
Though the main problem with this is that the camera angle, positioning, etc. hasn’t been fully standardized to my knowledge (look at Smoky Mountains, for example); you should be able to see broad details of the whole field on the main stream, and then more details on separate cameras (e.g hangar this year, individual goals in games like 2020)
We’ve had a version of Video Review at the Texas Robotics Invitational since 2016.
Here is the 2019 TRI video review rule set.
4. Video Review
Given that the technology allows (video system doesn’t go down, etc), TRI will be instituting a video review process for the elimination rounds of the bracket.
Each Alliance is allowed one challenge/review in the playoffs. The alliance captain will be provided a video review coupon in addition to their timeout coupon.
Video review coupons must be given to the head ref during the same time periods in which timeout coupons are allowed following the match to be reviewed.
Only match-affecting calls and yellow/red cards can be reviewed.
The score or lack-of-score being reviewed must be significant enough to affect the outcome of the match. The Head Referee can choose to not review any call that they do not believe will change the outcome of the match.
Video evidence must be indisputable to change a call. The point is to receive credit for an obviously missed score, not debate further a close call that a referee already used their best judgment on. The Head Referee’s decision is final after a review.
Only the event provided video will be used by the Head Referee during a video review. Referees will not review any other video footage, including camcorders, phones, or tablets not provided by the event.
The Head Referee, at their discretion, may choose to review any ruling throughout the event. Please do not ask for a video review at any time other than giving the referee your alliance’s video review coupon during the playoffs. All other requests will not be granted.
We don’t plan on ever having this happen, but we want to provide the best event possible to teams; video review of other situations may allow us to do this.
Im not sure that video review is nessesary if proper rule changes are made. Make the rules less open to interpretation rather than impliment another system that will face the same amount of scrutiny as a missed call by a ref. I feel like its implimentation is just a bandaid fix to the overwhelming problem of fouls deciding match outcome. If FIRST would restructure its rule set so that fouls are not common or match effecting I feel it would be better for everyone. Now I am not part of GDC nor do i have a real grasp on how to go about making the rules better but others (Mainly Karthik and Paul Copioli) have commented solutions that have been in place for other robotics competitions that seem to me, as a layman, to address problems with the current state of fouls in FRC. I’m all for video review if it is absolutely essential which I don’t think that it is.
It is currently not in the ruleset, but it hasn’t been a problem yet. It may be something we add, also the head ref can review anything so if a team came to the question box and made a reasonable request after using their coupon, I’m confident our HR would at least take a look if it was plausible.
We can’t control what video the teams have or the systems in place to be able to review them. We also don’t want to encourage teams to film matches from multiple angles or to try to hunt down fotoage from various audience members or teams. The goal is to get the calls correct without causing undue delays, confusion, or complexity.
What is done if the video is reviewed and a discrepancy is found? Should a replay of the match happen? My thinking is the match may have been played differently if the discrepancy hadn’t happened and a replay is the fairest way to handle the situation.
These rules seem reasonable, and I like that you specifically state that only official field video will be reviewed.
The only snag I see is that teams have a video review coupon, but refs are able to ignore it if in their opinion the review wouldn’t affect the match outcome. Do you find that teams gracefully accept this determination, or should the card always initiate a review? I can see both sides of this - you don’t want the video review card to be used as an extra timeout, but it seems that once you codify a team’s “right” to get a review, it could cause resentment if that process is seemingly short-circuited by the same officials whose call is being questioned. Is there ever sideline disagreement about what constitutes a “match-altering” situation?
Video review could be a good thing, but only if it doesn’t throw open the doors for a lot of contentious interactions with field officials from well-intentioned camcorder-wielding robot dads. (That last phrase is self-descriptive.)
When a captain asks for video review, do they list all cases of possible missed calls? If so, are those the only things reviewed. Does the captain of the other alliance then get an opportunity to then point out any missed calls they might have seen? Are we going to review every instance of contact between two robots because every 2 point foul could be important to the outcome?
The idea is that if the match was lost by 20pts and the team is asking to review a single climb or something like that the review isn’t necessary.
These rules are written for our off-season and would certainly not be the exact wording if put into the official manual.
Yes they are supposed to tell the HR what they believed was missed and why it’s match effecting. The HR is allowed to review anything during the event so while reviewing they can notice and make other changes, I’m not sure this has happened either.