Playing Field - Answer Thread

[Administrator]

Answers to questions posted pertaining to the Playing Field.

[Air Jordan]

<GS2> Particle Scoring Eligibility - Center Vortex Base

The Playing Field Floor is defined as "The surface of the tiles that make up the base of the Playing Field." From this definition, the black base of the Center Vortex is not part of the Playing Field Floor.

<GS2> says in part "After Scoring, Particles must make contact with the Playing Field Floor before they are eligible to be Scored again."

Question: May robots pick up Particles from the black base of the Center Vortex and score them without violating <GS2> or must the Particles touch a floor tile first? In other words, should the black base be considered part of the Playing Field Floor for purposes of <GS2> or not?

Answer: Great question! Robots may collect Particles from the Center Vortex Base and legally Score them without violating rule <GS2>.

[Air Jordan]

Vision Patterns Underneath Beacons

Question: Please clarify what the vision patterns under the beacon are for. Also, will they be same for all competitions?

Thank you.

Answer: Teams may use the Robot Controller Android device camera in conjunction with Vuforia navigation software, which is part of the default software application library for the FIRST Tech Challenge, to determine the Robot's location on the Playing Field when at least one of the Vision Targets is viewed by the camera. This information will help a Robot navigate to a Beacon location during the Autonomous Period.

The four images in Appendix B of the Game Manual Part 2 will be used at all competitions and they will always be in the same locations on the Playing Field. See the "Field Setup and Configuration Guide" for the locations of the Vision Targets.

[Billie Jean]

Playing Field - Answer Thread

Here is the scenario leading up to our question:

In one of our matches in autonomous a red alliance robot finished the auto program touching the beacon button with the beacon turned to blue. One the blue alliance one of their robots finished autonomous with their robot touching the beacon button as well and their beacon was turned to blue. As the autonomous timer hit zero a robot ran into the wall and then both of the beacons that were close to the robots on both alliances turned to red.

The FTA thought maybe the beacons turned from blue to red because of static discharge sent through the beacons. The referee said the match should be scored as is since it should be scored once all game elements come to rest. It ended up being scored as it was with the beacons turned red and they believe the robot that hit the wall caused the beacons to turn since the robots were touching the beacons.

The question is this:

In what case is static discharge verifiable where those beacons would have scored as blue instead of red? Would this result in a rerun or is it scored as is since you can't verify 100% for sure static discharge?

Hi Team 5501,

It is difficult to make a determination on the scenario you described as we were not present at the event. Based on the scenario described, it sounds like the Head Referee made the correct call, when the 3rd robot hit the wall it caused the wall to flex, pulling the beacons away from the robots and then springing back. This would have caused a legitimate button press on both beacons and changed the color of the beacons.

The Head Referee would base their response on what they observed on the field. If they feel this wasn’t caused by a failed field element, they will not rerun the match. See rule <G25>:

<G25> Match Replay – Matches are replayed at the discretion of the Head Referee only for a failure of a Game Element or verified Wi-Fi interference that was likely to have impacted which Alliance won the Match.
Unexpected Robot behavior in itself will not result in a Match replay. Team-induced failures, such as low battery conditions, processor sleep time-outs, Robot mechanical/electrical/software/communication failures, etc. are NOT valid justifications for a replaying of a Match.