Robotics Education & Competition Foundation
Inspiring students, one robot at a time.
This Q&A is now read-only

Official Q&A: VRC 2018-2019: Turning Point

Usage Guidelines All Questions

151: Indirect Possession?


2019F
19-Nov-2018

Possession "...carrying, holding or encompassing" At a recent event a team was penalized for flipping a cap that had two ball resting on with another in their intake. They were said to be in violation of SG4 "Possess a maximum of one Cap and two balls at a time". Is flipping a cap with two balls on it considered possession of those two ball if there was no direct control of those balls?

Answered by Game Design Committee

It is always difficult to issue a blanket ruling on a snapshot description of an action during Match. With that in mind, in addition to the definition of Possession, SG7 should also be considered.

Possession - A Game Object status. A Robot has Possession of a Game Object if it is carrying, holding, or encompassing it.

<SG7> Game Objects cannot be used to accomplish actions that would be otherwise illegal if they were attempted by Robot mechanisms.

A Robot which is using a Game Object to carry, hold, or encompass other Game Objects would be considered Possessing them.

Momentarily flipping a Cap, such that the two Balls on top of it fall off, would not be considered Possession. Lifting that Cap, such that the two Balls were lifted with it, would be considered Possession.

The relevant Referee Training video also uses the following guideline: if the Game Object turns with the Robot as the Robot turns, then it is probably being Possessed. This rule of thumb applies to the two examples given in the above paragraph.