If a robot has a raised arm that is not touching any part of the field - is it legal for the raised arm to extend outside the infinite vertical projection of the boundaries of the starting position box at the start of the match - as long as all elements of the robot that contact the field are within the starting position box?
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Official Q&A: VIQC 2019-2020: Squared Away
Starting Position Question
Answered by Game Design Committee
Please review the Q&A Usage Guidelines before posting, specifically point 3, "Quote the applicable rule from the latest version of the manual in your question.".
G4 reads as follows:
<G4> Pre-match setup. At the beginning of a Match, each Robot must meet the following criteria:
a. Only be contacting the Floor and/or Field Perimeter.
b. Fit within an 11” x 19” (279.4mm x 482.6mm) area, bounded by the Starting Position.
c. Be no taller than 15” from the Floor.
The Starting Position is defined as follows:
Starting Position - The two (2) designated 11” x 19” (279mm x 482.6mm) spots on the field where Robots must start the Match. Starting Positions are bounded by the inner edges of the long black lines, outer edge of the short black line, and the inner edge of the field perimeter. See Figure 2 for more details.
The Starting Position bounds are intended to extend vertically upwards; this is partially why the official VIQC Sizing Tool utilizes a mock Starting Position of Field tiles, instead of being just a "box".
Therefore, this would not be legal.