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Official Q&A: VRC 2023-2024: Over Under

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Further clarification of QA 1150 - where can drivers legally introduce match loads.

Pascal Chesnais (Event Partner)
7-Jan-2024

<S1><G8><SG6>

In Q&A 1150 as to whether or not teams could leave their driver stations (which is diagrammed in figure 2) to do match loads, the answer left teams to believe that they could be outside of the drive station as long as they were in front of the field wall by the alliance station. Here is the quote they showed me from Q&A:

For the purposes of Match Load entry in Over Under Matches, Drive Team Members may introduce Match Load Triballs from any position along the field wall in front of their Alliance Station, but should not move around a corner of the field to access the area beyond the Match Load Zone. Teams should consider this limitation a constraint of the game, and should identify designs and strategies that allow them to safely introduce Match Loads within reach of their Alliance Station if placing them onto Robots.

Up to that point, I believed they had to stay in their alliance station and could reach over the wall in front of Alliance Station to match load.

Which is correct - allowed to step outside Alliance Station or not? (illustration using Figure 2 from Game Manual - at our events we leave a foot on each side of alliance station as Game Manual depicts in every illustration of Alliance Station so referee can safely see match loads)

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S1   G8   SG6  
Answered by committee
29-Jan-2024

First - just to be clear / for future reference, we believe you are referring to Q&A 1550, not 1150.

In Q&A 1150 as to whether or not teams could leave their driver stations (which is diagrammed in figure 2) to do match loads, the answer left teams to believe that they could be outside of the drive station as long as they were in front of the field wall by the alliance station.

Yes - that is a correct interpration of the answer that was posted.

Which is correct - allowed to step outside Alliance Station or not? (illustration using Figure 2 from Game Manual - at our events we leave a foot on each side of alliance station as Game Manual depicts in every illustration of Alliance Station so referee can safely see match loads)

As noted in the answer to Q&A 1550, the game manual does not specify the exact size and position of the Alliance Stations, and we acknowledge that some events do not even mark any boundaries (e.g. venues with restrictions regarding tape on floors).

In most games / contexts, abiding by the intent of <G8> and <G9> is sufficient. Referees are not expected to be watching for every time a toe steps past a taped line on the ground, as long as Teams are generally in the correct location (i.e. not hovering over the wall, interfering with field controls, or sprawling past their side of the field).

However, due to the unique nature of Match Loading in Over Under, paired with the known leniency/inconsistency of taped Alliance Station lines, we found it necessary to provide a more explicit clarification for the intended boundaries of those specific Drive Team Members.