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

Usage Guidelines All Questions

221: Indirect Possession

97834B
21-Jan-2019

In a recent tournament, an opposing robot shot a ball at a flag. When the ball richocheted off of the flag, it bounced into our robot into a place on the robot where it couldn't be dislogged. There was also another ball in the robot in a place where it couldn't be dislogged, as well as one more ball in the our robot's intake system or shooter. The referee warned our robot that it was over the possession limit and because the team didn't immediately fire the one ball out of their shooter, the referee made the decision to disqualify them from the match. They didn't get the win points for the match but their teammate did.

My interpretation of Rule G11 is that the other team forced our robot into a "possession" penalty and therefore our team should not have been penalized. The other team did not do this intentionally, so therefore they should not have been penalized either. Here is the exact wording of the rule. <G11> You can’t force an opponent into a penalty. Intentional strategies that cause an opponent to violate a rule are not permitted, and will not result in an infraction on the opposing Alliance. Minor violations of this rule that do not affect the Match will result in a warning. Match Affecting offenses will result in a Disqualification. Teams that receive multiple warnings may also receive a Disqualification at the Head Referee's discretion.

Please clarify whether my interpretation of the rule is correct.

G11   SG4   SG6  
Answered by Game Design Committee

Let's look at the specific rules in question, partially quoted here for reference:

<SG4> Watch your Possession limit. Robots may Possess a maximum of one (1) Cap and two (2) Balls at a time.

<SG6> Keep Game Objects to yourself. Robots may not intentionally drop or place Game Objects on an opponent Robot.

<G11> You can’t force an opponent into a penalty. Intentional strategies that cause an opponent to violate a rule are not permitted, and will not result in an infraction on the opposing Alliance.

All three of these include the standard warning/Disqualification verbiage:

Minor violations of this rule that do not affect the Match will result in a warning. Match Affecting offenses will result in a Disqualification. Teams that receive multiple warnings may also receive a Disqualification at the Head Referee's discretion.

It is impossible for us to provide blanket rulings based on a written description of a specific Match, which is why it's important to defer to the Head Referee who witnessed the interactions in person.

You note that the ricochet of the Ball into your Robot was incidental, so <SG6> and <G11> would not typically apply, as they both include "intentional" verbiage. <SG4> would then be the key rule to consider.

<SG4> does not include any "intentional" or "un-intentional" verbiage; thus, if the Robot in question is objectively Possessing (3) Balls, then it is objectively in violation of <SG4>. To ensure that the penalty for this violation remains a warning, we would advise Teams who find themselves in this situation to avoid doing anything which would be considered Match Affecting, such as using one of those Game Objects to impact their Alliance's score (i.e. shoot a Ball at a Flag).

In general, we would advise Teams to design their Robots to minimize these types of incidental or questionable interactions, thus minimizing the possibility of rulings that you would consider controversial.