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Official Q&A: VIQC 2019-2020: Squared Away

Usage Guidelines All Questions

G17 It is not intended for Teams to use as part of a strategy to gain an advantage during a Match, including via moving Game Objects per parts c and d above.


Dice Maruyama (Event Partner)
2-Feb-2020

<G17> Handling the Robot mid-match is allowed under certain circumstances. If a Robot goes completely outside the playing Field, gets stuck, tips over, or otherwise requires assistance, the Team’s Drivers may retrieve & reset the Robot.

According to the answer from Game Design Committee, the question below is legal. "A robot starts by turning and lifting a red cube. The team picks up the robot and cube and places the bot in the other starting position and places the cube next to its scoring zone on the other side of the field. The robot then pushes the cube in." https://www.robotevents.com/VIQC/2019-2020/QA/392

However at the bottom section of G17, it says: This rule is intended so Teams can fix damaged Robots or help get their Robots “out of trouble.” It is not intended for Teams to use as part of a strategy to gain an advantage during a Match, including via moving Game Objects per parts c and d above. If a Head Referee sees Teams strategically exploiting this rule, they may be Disqualified from said Match.

We need a clear answer for this.

There is a similar question but no answer yet and there is the YouTube link which made a lot of teams and referees confused. https://www.robotevents.com/VIQC/2019-2020/QA/518

Answered by Game Design Committee

As noted in <RSC1>, standard Game rules only apply during Skills Matches if there is no RSC rule to clarify a change. Q&A's 518 and 392 refer to Programming Skills Matches, in which <RSC5> supersedes <G17>.

<RSC1> All rules, scoring, and field layouts from previous sections apply to the Skills Matches, unless otherwise specified.

<RSC5> A Team may handle their Robot as many times as desired during a Programming Skills Match.

a. Upon handling the Robot, it must be immediately brought back to any legal Starting Position.\

i. Driver may reset or adjust the Robot as desired from this position, including pressing buttons on the Robot Brain or activating sensors.

b. Any Game Objects being controlled by the Robot while being handled must be removed from the Robot and gently placed in a non-Scored position by the Team.

c. Any Game Object in the Starting Position may be moved out of the Starting Position and gently placed into a non-Scored position by the Team.

d. During a Programming Skills Match, Drivers may move freely around the Field, and are not restricted to the Driver Station when not handling their Robot.

i. An intent of this exception is to permit Drivers who wish to “stage” Robot handling during a Programming Skills Match to do so without excessive running back and forth to the Driver Station.

Note: This rule only applies to Programming Skills Matches. Driving Skills Matches are still governed by <G17>, especially for strategic violations.