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

This Q&A is now read-only

The Official Q and A is now closed. If you want to submit a question for the Worlds Drivers Meeting, please click here. The deadline for question submission is Friday, March 24.

Official Q&A: VRC 2022-2023: Spin Up

Usage Guidelines All Questions

Low Goal Barrier Trapping Additional Questions - Robot Stuck on Barrier


6526C
18-Feb-2023

As per the following Q&A answer: https://www.robotevents.com/VRC/2022-2023/QA/1265, “ Effective immediately (Dec 13, 2022), holding an opponent against a Barrier such that they cannot escape will be considered Trapping as described in rule <G15>.” We would like clarifications on the following situations. Scenario 1: Red robot pins blue robot against a barrier. The trap begins and at 3 seconds, the red robot manages to push the blue robot onto the barrier. The red robot backs away, however the blue robot cannot remove itself from the barrier for the remainder of the match. Would the trap count continue or would the blue robot be responsible for removing themselves from the barrier?

Scenario 2: A red robot pushes blue across the field and onto the barrier (no trap was previously occurring). Blue is now stuck on said barrier for the remainder of the match. Would this be a violation of G15?

Scenario 3: Blue robot is stuck on the barrier and is trying to remove themselves. A red robot is preventing the blue bot from getting off of the barrier either by physically holding them on the barrier or constricting them to being able to move only on the tiles attached to the barrier. Would this be considered as a trap? <G15>

Answered by committee

Scenario 1: The Trapping count ends when the red Robot separates by at least 2 feet, regardless of what happens to the blue Robot (including getting stuck on the Barrier). See Q&A 1351 for more info on how Trapping counts end.

Scenario 2: This does not meet the definition of Trapping, and is not a violation of <G15>.

Scenario 3: This scenario is highly situational, and any ruling would require Head Referee judgment within the larger context of the Match. Q&A 1265 is related, and should be used to make these judgement calls. Generally speaking, "Physically holding them on the Barrier" is more likely to be a <G15> violation than "Constricting them to ... the tiles attached to the Barrier" would be.