Driver Controlled Period - Answer Thread

[Air Jordan]

<G16> Pinning, Trapping, or Blocking Robots - Robot Blocking a Beacon

Question: If a robot on the red alliance sits in front of a beacon during the driver-controlled period, blocking both of the buttons on it, that has been changed to the color blue, could the robot potentially sit in front of this beacon the entire match and then at the last second change it to red? Would this incur a penalty if a blue alliance robot tried to access this beacon since it is already changed to blue and a blue alliance robot trying to access it would have no offensive play to the blue alliance since it is already their color?

Answer: The Red Alliance Robot is violating rule <G16> if a Blue Alliance Robot attempts to access the Beacon.

[Air Jordan]

&lt;G16&gt; Pinning, Trapping, or Blocking Robots - Beacon Access

Post #24 in the Autonomous Period - Answer Thread says:

"Question: After the first 10 seconds of the Autonomous period, may RobotA repeatedly enter an opponent's tile with the white tape in front of a beacon, remain there for under 5 seconds, then leave the tile entirely for a second, and repeat the process over and over for the remainder of the Autonomous period, for the purpose of pushing or otherwise hindering opposing robots trying to push their beacon buttons, if there is no period of time when RobotA occupies the tile with the white tape for more than 5 consecutive seconds (as G16 says is necessary for Blocking penalties to apply)?

Answer: In this scenario, the Autonomous Period exception for enforcing rule <G16> does not apply because the Robot is using a deliberate strategy. The defensive Robot must move away at least three feet from the restricted Area around the Beacon after each Blocking event. Since the Team is intentionally violating or "gaming" a rule, they are likely to be warned by the referees about egregious behavior and the consequences or rule <G26>. In this scenario, the Team should expect the referees to rapidly escalate to applying <G26> consequences to the Team."


Post #56 in the Miscellaneous Game Questions - Answer Thread says:

"Still need a little more clarification on defensive moves, sorry. <G16> appears to allow pinning, trapping and blocking for up to 5 seconds. Trying to be very direct:

Question 1: Can a robot directly block access to an opposing alliance's beacon for less than 5 seconds, without incurring a penalty, even if an opposing alliance's robot is attempting to score at that beacon?

Question 2: Can a robot push an opposing alliance's robot away from a beacon it is trying to score on without incurring a penalty? This assumes that the push is of reasonable intensity and not likely to harm a well-built robot.

Answer 1: Yes.

Answer 2: Yes."

Question: From these two answers, may we conclude that a robot (either in the Autonomous Period after 10 seconds or the Driver Controlled Period) may directly block access to an opposing alliance's beacon or push them away from a beacon for less than 5 seconds one time without penalty if they subsequently back away and do not attempt to repeat the strategy, but that a robot (either in the Autonomous Period after 10 seconds or the Driver Controlled Period) that attempts to do this repeatedly after only briefly backing away is subject to <G16> and possible <G26> penalties?

Answer: Yes.

[Air Jordan]

&lt;G15&gt; Destruction, Damage, Tipping, etc. - Entanglement

Scenario: A red robot extends their forklift before end game, while driving around a blue robot runs over the extended pieces of the red robot's forklift. Should the red robot be penalized for entangling the blue robot-its forklift was extended? Or is it the blue robot at fault for getting entangled in the red robots extended forklift?

Answer: The description of the scenario is not sufficient for the Game Design Committee to determine if rule <G15> is violated. Rule <G15> comes into play when strategies and/or mechanisms are aimed solely at the destruction, damage, tipping over, or entanglement of Robots or Game Elements. Referees will determine if the Robot's actions are part of an intentional strategy to entangle another Robot, or if the Robot's mechanism is aimed solely at entangling a Robot. In this scenario, both the Red and Blue Alliance Robots have an obligation to avoid entanglement. Also, the Red Alliance Robot may not use the extended forklift as an entanglement risk/threat to gain an advantage and the Blue Alliance Robot may not intentionally cause an entanglement situation with the Red Alliance Robot's extended forklift.