RobotEvents.com
Robotics Education & Competition Foundation
Inspiring students, one robot at a time.

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

919: Clarification on Cantilever Parking

Jess Zarchi
8-Nov-2021

Hello,

Q&A 853

If the Robot were to hypothetically cantilever itself against the lip of the Platform in order to "hover" just slightly off of the black supporting structures, this would very likely be considered "clamping" and/or causing an unnecessary risk of damage to the polycarbonate Platform (in the context of G16).

G16

Don’t clamp your Robot to the field. Robots may not intentionally grasp, grapple or attach to any Field Elements. Strategies with mechanisms that react against multiple sides of a Field Element in an effort to latch or clamp onto said Field Element are prohibited. The intent of this rule is to prevent Teams from both unintentionally damaging the field and / or from anchoring themselves to the field.

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.

Change Up Q&A on G16

To test whether a Robot is violating G16, the Robot should be able to be pulled away from the Goal in some horizontal direction, without lifting the Robot off of the field tiles, and without damaging, disassembling, or violating any laws of physics of the Goal and/or Robot.

Assuming the robot is removable from a horizontal direction like in the Change Up Q&A and isn't causing unnecessary risk to the Platform or Field Elements...
If a Robot were to only be contacting one surface of the Platform (the floor) would this be a legal way to park?
Does this change if a Robot is contacting multiple surfaces?

Thank you for your time!

G16  
Answered by committee

Assuming the robot is removable from a horizontal direction like in the Change Up Q&A and isn't causing unnecessary risk to the Platform or Field Elements... If a Robot were to only be contacting one surface of the Platform (the floor) would this be a legal way to park?

Yes, especially given that this description is essentially the same as the standard action of a Robot driving up and Balancing on the Platform.

Does this change if a Robot is contacting multiple surfaces?

This question cannot be answered with a one-size-fits-all blanket response. However, we will at least try to explain why this is the case.

Much like R12, determining whether a specific mechanism or strategy has violated G16 requires a certain amount of context and subjective human judgment.

To help guide Head Referees who are faced with this subjective decision, we have attempted to provide a few guiding principles to watch for.

One guideline that can be objectively interpreted in a "black-and-white" litmus test is "reacting against multiple sides of a Field Element". Therefore - any time a mechanism has been designed to intentionally react against multiple sides of a Field Element in an attempt to remain attached to that Field Element, it should be immediately apparent that the mechanism is at a severe risk of violating G16.

Other guidelines are more subjective, such as "what does 'anchor' mean" and "what constitutes a risk of field damage". To address these, we have attempted to provide general hypothetical principles that can be applied to real-world situations. Namely, ,the "horizontal-pull-away" thought experiment, and "cantilevering off of the polycarbonate Platform is probably causing a risk of field damage" (853).

We cannot provide any further hypothetical clarifications that are not simply restating what has already been said. If you would like a blanket clarification regarding a specific mechanism, please feel free to rephrase and re-post with a diagram or photo.