Robotics Education & Competition Foundation
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Official Q&A: VRC 2023-2024: Over Under

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1554: Is there a penalty for exiting a opponents Alliance Goal when they are no longer Double-Zoning


Doug Hepfer (Event Partner)
15-Jun-2023

<SG8>

Rule SG8 says that during the time when an Alliance meets the definition of Double-Zoning, opposing Robots are permitted to “break the plane” of the Double-Zoning Alliance’s Goal, such as to remove Triballs. This allowance ends once the Alliance is no longer Double-Zoning (i.e., when one or both of the Robots has returned to the other side of the field or contacted the Long Barrier).

How do we rule in the scenario where an opposing team's robot is in the middle of an Alliance Goal at the moment the other Alliance becomes no longer Double-Zoned - and the only path out of the goal will descore Triballs from the Alliance Goal. This happens often during gameplay, and it happens fast with one Alliance pushing balls into their Alliance Goal while another robot is trying to exit.

Is the opposing team's robot immediately in violation of the SG8, just be virtue of being inside goal? What is the status of Triballs that are in motion at the time the Alliance becomes no longer Double-Zoned?

Does the act of leaving the goal and the having the only exit route blocked by Triballs, forcing the descoring of some Triballs in the exit process constitute a violation of SG8? If so, how does the referee determine sixty seconds later whether or not the violation was match affecting?

Answered by committee
23-Jun-2023

Thank you for your question. If a Robot is breaking the plane of their opponent's Goal while that opponent does not meet the definition of Double Zoning, they are in violation of <SG8> as quoted below. A Robot that enters the opposing Alliance's goal does so at the risk of violating this rule based on the opponent's response.

<SG8b> Entering an opponent’s Goal at any other time is prohibited. This includes staying inside of an opponent’s Goal after they end their Double-Zone status.

<SG8c> This rule applies to both intentional and unintentional interactions. Teams are responsible for the actions of their own Robots.

Figure 3 in the game manual assists Head Referees in applying the correct Violation. Because <SG8> does not include specific Violation Notes, the Head Referee must determine whether the Violation is Match Affecting. The Head Referee should note the number of Triballs descored as part of the Violation, and determine whether those descored points would have changed the winner & loser of the Match. If it's determined to be a Match Affecting Violation, the Team should receive a DQ; if it's not (and doesn't include other Violations and isn't a repeated Violation) they should receive a Minor Violation.