[YMTC]: [YMTC]: Did the Blueateam touch the tunnel?

Competition Rules/Strategy
1

In the spirit of the You Make The Call threads I propose this:

The GDC has defined the TUNNEL as PART of the TOWER and as such a tunnel robot may not touch the opposing team’s tunnel walls if it tries to go through during the FINALE.

The scenario is quite simple: Bluateam’s robot drives through Redateam’s tunnel with 15 seconds left in the match. Bluateam’s robot is not unusually small but rather looks to have little clearance. For this example let’s just say that from the distance observing from the side of the field it looks like less than 2” on each side and the top. Bluateam drove through the tunnel just fine and did not appear to crash into the tunnel upon entry or exit.

Now pretend to be a referee. You have no magical X-Ray superpowers like Superman. You can’t see EXACTLY what Bluateam’s robot did for the short period of time it was in the tunnel. You clearly have to make a judgment call as to whether or not to ■■■■■ a penalty.

Do you:

A) Adopt a “zero tolerance” policy and assume that no driver is that good especially since it is down field and the driver can’t see all that well. If a robot tries to go through the opposing tunnel you are just going to have to assume it hit the wall and ■■■■■ a penalty everytime.

Or

B) Adopt a “innocent until proven guilty” policy and assume that since you couldn’t actually see the contact inside the tunnel then you have no option other than to give Bluateam the benefit of the doubt and not ■■■■■ a penalty.

Now let’s complicate the issue. According to <G13> Redateam can’t go crashing into Bluateam causing Bluateam to contact the wall and incur a penalty. If you were a referee watching this scenario how do you determine if Bluateam would have made it safely through without touching the walls if Redateam hadn’t crashed into Bluateam as they were entering or exiting the tunnel?

2

  1. I’d think that I could tell if the bot made contact or not - any contact would change the trajectory of the robot.

  2. No speculation is necessary: If red pushed blue into contact, blue doesn’t get the penalty,[strike] red does.[/strike] Blue could’ve been heating straight for the tunnel wall - don’t care. Red contact makes it red’s problem.

3

<G13> doesn’t transfer the penalty to the other alliance, it just makes it go away.

4

You have to look at the intent of the rule and that is to prevent teams from interfering with other teams trying to hang.

If going through the tunnel is in no way interfering with another robot then I would rule no penalty.

5

Can you point to where that was the stated intent? Or are you just assuming?

In any case, if you can’t see it, I don’t think you can call it. For comparison, in hockey, a goal can’t be ruled as such unless you can see the puck, even if you could safely assume it was underneath the goaltender while he was in the net.

6

Total assumption

*<G34> FINALE PERIOD ROBOT Protection - During the FINALE, ROBOTS in contact with their TOWER or in contact with an ELEVATED ALLIANCE partner may not be contacted by an opponent. Violation: PENALTY for inadvertent contact; plus a RED CARD for obviously intentional contact.

<G35> FINALE PERIOD TOWER Protection - During the FINALE, ROBOTS in may not contact the OPPONENT’S TOWER. Violation: PENALTY for inadvertent contact; plus a RED CARD for obviously intentional contact.*

I think these rules show the clear intent of the GDC to prevent any interference with the hanging process.