Competition Rules

[Billie Jean]

Answers to questions about Competition Rules.

[Billie Jean]

Subject: Remote Field Size

Q: Is it required that we use a half field for a remote league meet? (12 x 8)

A: Remote fields must be 12ft x 8ft to be competition legal.

[Billie Jean]

Subject: Red or Blue Remote Field

Q: Does it matter which half field we use for a remote league meet, Red or Blue?

A: No. Teams may choose either a red or a blue half field.

[Billie Jean]

Subject: Non-team member as Human Player

Q: Because of high school and community regulations our students may not enter the robotics lab at school nor may they meet in-person. Are we allowed to use a mentor as the Human Player if social distancing rules affect the amount of students allowed to play a match remotely?

A: The Game Manual Part 1 - Remote has been updated to reflect that, under circumstances where the whole team cannot gather, thereby decreasing the number of students playing in a match, a mentor or other adult may stand in as the Human Player. This exception is only for remote gameplay.

[Billie Jean]

Subject: Competing in Concurrent Events

Rule <C05>.c says teams are not allowed to "register and attend concurrent competitions with a second Robot." Would teams be allowed to:

Q1: register and attend concurrent competitions with the same Robot?
Q2: register and attend concurrent competitions that are not completely overlapping in time frame?

A1: No
A2: Yes - ONLY if the dates of the event do not overlap.

[Billie Jean]

Subject: Semi-finals and Final Matches Remote

Q: Given a Remote event: are we allowed to hold Semifinals and Finals matches? Possibly by creating a second competition window the week after the first?

A: No. Remote competitions do not use the traditional alliance format. Teams competing remotely will be competing for the highest score based on their 6 matches in a given event.

[Billie Jean]

Subject: Teledrive for Remote Events

Q: Can teams competing in Remote Events use TeleDrive, or would that violate rule <RS09>? Given the COVID pandemic, TeleDrive is potentially a safe and effective way for teams to be able to participate in matches, particularly when their state discourages or prohibits in-person gatherings of individuals from multiple households.

A: There are no teledrive methods approved by FIRST for this season. FIRST must evaluate any teledrive methods for cost, accessibility, response times, etc. prior to approving these methods for use by our entire community.

Requests must be submitted to FIRST no later than March 31, 2021 to be evaluated for future seasons. Requests must include required hardware, software, approximate costs, and evaluation of latency or lag in response times for remote match play. Please email requests to [email protected].