Miscellaneous Tournament Rules - Answer Thread

[Billie Jean]

Rerunning a Match

According to the FIRST Control-System Troubleshooting guide, there is a possibility for malicious or interference activity: "If you are at an Event where you suspect that some malicious activity is occurring, you can try to use any available tool to identify the party that is conducting the malicious activity." Pg 30
Our question is this: If we can prove malicious activity or interference from other sources such as wireless microphones or other electronics is taking place, causing a robot to act erratically during a match, with the FIRST recommended software, Wireshark, will the match be replayed?

Our robot worked fine away from competition fields (worked fine on practice field in room away from competition field, at home before/after event) however the robot did unexplainable actions during some of the matches which is why we want to get a ruling on how to proceed if we can prove interference or malicious activity is taking place. Certain wireless microphone systems work in the 2.4 Ghz range and during one match this past weekend, the wireless mic had significant static/feedback and immediately all 4 robots disconnected from the field (last 10 seconds of match so no rerun of this particular match).

To even consider a match replay, teams should provide suspicions and information to the Head Referee in the allotted time (3 matches) after the match was played. The Head Referee would work with the Field Technical Advisor to determine if there was in fact a violation of rule <T4>. It is ultimately the responsibility of the Field Technical Advisor to investigate the issue.

Please also note that teams should only report valid and verifiable violations of this rule. Repeated requests to replay a match without valid proof of malicious activity could be considered egregious.