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

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218: Replays after White Screen of Death?


2114V
19-Jan-2019

As documented in this thread on the forum, many teams have experienced what has been named a "White Screen of Death". When a WSOD occurs, the V5 Brain shows a pure white screen and from all information available, seems to be completely frozen. It does not execute user code, does not respond to joystick input, and cannot be shut down by holding down the power button. The only way to resolve the issue is by unplugging the battery and plugging it back in, which seems to have fixed the issue in all reported cases.

This has the potential to affect not only the outcome of individual matches, but also the outcome of the entire tournament, as was seen today at an event in AZ in the final match, Link

As the video shows, one of the red robots freezes immediately after contacting the field perimeter and, from information gathered from those at the field, experienced a WSOD. This team was also running the latest firmware, 1.0.5, with charged batteries. This was undeniably potentially match affecting.

While writing this question, yet another team posted on the forum reporting this issue during finals in this thread

Students have no control over this issue, and when it happens it is devastating. Despite this, the rules currently have no mechanism for initiating a replay in this frustrating and disappointing circumstance.

Would the GDC consider making an update to the game manual or a ruling here that allowed one of the following?

  1. A replay is called in the case that a robot experiences a WSOD and it is determined by the head referee that it potentially changed the outcome of the match.

    • As WSODs are rare, this allowance would most likely not impact the runtime of the event too much.
  2. If the robot is in a location close to the edge of the field a member of the drive team would be allowed to reach in to the field as safety allows and with actions similar to those described in G8a (in this case, most likely unplugging and replugging the battery).

    • This would not cause any delay for the tournament, and in many cases is very easy to do.
  3. If the WSOD occurs during the autonomous period, during the pause period between autonomous and user control a member of the drive team would be allowed to carefully step on to the field and perform actions similar to those described in G8a (in this case, most likely unplugging and replugging the battery).

    • This would not cause any meaningful delay for the tournament, and in many cases is very easy to do.

I understand that the GDC might prefer to wait on making these additions (if it does indeed wish to make them) until next season, but I argue that this situation needs to have some solution put forward this season considering the effect it has had on the competition and the much greater potential effects it could have at the world championship.

Edit: It seems that my formatting in the editor is not being respected by the website, so I apologize for any strange formatting.

Answered by Game Design Committee

Thank you for this well-thought-out question and suggestion. At this time, a control system crash (whether on V5 or Cortex) is not an official requirement or cause for a replay. Official replay guidelines can be found in the REC Foundation's VRC Replay Criteria document.

The only official warranted replay condition for a technical issue like this is when a VEXnet Match Controller disables both Robots on the same Alliance, which can be confirmed by looking at the status lights on the Driver Interface.