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The Q&A is closed for the 2021-2022 season. Any rule changes or clarifications pertaining to the 2022 VEX Robotics World Championship will be included in the April 5 Game Manual Update. Teams attending VEX Worlds who wish to pre-submit questions for the driver's meeting should have received a contact form via email; if not, please contact your REC Foundation Team Engagement Manager for more information.

Official Q&A: VRC 2021-2022: Tipping Point

Usage Guidelines All Questions

1006: Hoarding with Goals on a Platform

Jess Zarchi
13-Jan-2022

Hello,

This question is about edge cases of goal placement on a platform for consideration with hoarding.

Hoarding Definition

Hoarding – A Robot is considered to be Hoarding a Mobile Goal if it is actively blocking an opposing Robot’s access to a Mobile Goal without directly Possessing it, such as by expanding horizontally across a portion of the field. See Figure 12a and <SG7>.

Robots on the same Alliance working in tandem to block access to Mobile Goals would share the Hoarding of said Mobile Goal. See Figure 12b.

Hoarding may occur anywhere around the field perimeter and / or Platforms; there is no requirement for it to be in a specific corner of the field.

SG7

Hoarding of Mobile Goals is limited. Robots may not Hoard more than one (1) Mobile Goal at once.

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.

Note: Hoarding is not a time-based activity (i.e. a 5 second count, like Trapping). As soon as a Robot is observed by the Head Referee to be actively blocking an opponent’s access to more than one (1) Mobile Goal without Possessing it, they will, at a minimum, receive a warning.

SG7 Red Box

The intent of this rule is to prohibit one Alliance from actively stifling gameplay by “locking down” Mobile Goals against the field perimeter and / or underneath Platforms. The following examples are not considered violations of this rule: . . .

The definition of Hoarding states

Hoarding may occur anywhere around the field perimeter and / or Platforms while SG7 states, The intent of this rule is to prohibit one Alliance from actively stifling gameplay by “locking down” Mobile Goals against the field perimeter and / or underneath Platforms

Assuming the robot is actively defending goals that are contacting the platform, where on the platform does the goal need to be to legally defend it? Some examples of different cases are:
* goals on a balanced platform
* goals on an unbalanced platform
* goals underneath the platform

Attached are images of Janet defending two goals from opponents, with the goals placed as defined above.

Thank you for your time!

img img img

SG7  
Answered by committee

The word "anywhere" in the definition of Hoarding refers to the fact that it does not need to occur in a specific corner of the field, as explained by the rest of the sentence.

The full text of the red box in <SG7> reads as follows, with a portion bolded for emphasis:

The intent of this rule is to prohibit one Alliance from actively stifling gameplay by “locking down” Mobile Goals against the field perimeter and / or underneath Platforms. The following examples are not considered violations of this rule:

  • Possessing multiple Mobile Goals (i.e. carrying, holding, or controlling the movement of multiple Mobile Goals)
  • Passively driving past a Mobile Goal while Possessing another Mobile Goal
  • Parking next to multiple Mobile Goals while opponents are on the other side of the field, i.e. without “actively blocking” an opponent who is trying to access them
  • Placing Mobile Goals on top of an Alliance’s own Platform

The state of the Platform (i.e. Balanced or un-Balanced) is irrelevant in the context of the final bullet point.

Your first and second images would not be considered Hoarding. The third image would pose a risk of a Hoarding warning, if there was an opponent that was being actively held away by Janet.