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

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Is it ‘legal’ to Strategically Move Game Objects 7 feet across the board in Programming Skills Matches when resetting the robot and the Game Object(s) that had been ‘controlled by the robot’?

1024V
2-Feb-2020

The proposed programming strategy was shared by a student at our 1/31/2020 team meeting at which time the student also reported the proposed strategy to Move Game Objects 7 feet across the board had been also confirmed as ‘legal’ by unnamed VEX/REC contact.

At 2/1/2020 competition others students on our team observed and questioned the local Skills Judge who ruled the strategy outlined below was ‘legal’ when another team was using it to Strategically Move Game Objects 7 feet across the board in Programming Skills Matches.

The proposed programming strategy is to:

  1. Program the robot to pick up and ‘control’ 1 or 2 Blue cubes and then stop
  2. Reset the robot to legal starting position on opposite side of board [RSC5a]
  3. Reset the Game Objects ‘controlled by the robot’ (1 or 2 Blue cubes) into non-scored position [RSC5b]
  4. The non-Scored position though is 7 feet across the board and directly adjacent to Blue Corner Goal [appears to be inconsistent with G17 ‘not intended for Teams to use as part of a strategy to gain an advantage during a Match, including via moving Game Objects’]
  5. Program the robot push the 1 or 2 Blue cubes into the Blue Corner Goal and then stop
  6. Repeat steps 1-5 listed above except these steps will be done for Red Cubes

There have been at least 2 posted responses ‘ Answered by Game Design Committee’ on this topic of Strategically Moving Game Objects which appear to differ either in interpretation of the rules or distinction between Driving (not legal) and Programming (Legal) to Strategically Move Game Objects 7 feet across the board.

  1. Initial response to question about Driving match: ‘could result in a possible Disqualification’ https://www.robotevents.com/VIQC/2019-2020/QA/329
  2. More recent response about Programming match: ‘legal within RSC5, which supersedes G17 for Programming Skills Matches’ https://www.robotevents.com/VIQC/2019-2020/QA/392 There are other Q&A, which include videos (https://www.robotevents.com/VIQC/2019-2020/QA/518) and which are also seeking clarification from Game Design Committee about ‘legally’ Moving Game Objects.

Though noting that can be done to clarify past rulings about Strategically Moving Game Objects at past competitions, it would be particularly helpful to teams and event partners to clarify the ‘legality’ of Strategically Moving of Game Objects for future Driving and/or Programming matches and Teamwork competitions.

G17   RSC5  
Answered by Game Design Committee

Q&A 392 explicitly refers to a Programming Skills Match. As noted in <RSC1>, standard Game rules only apply during Skills Matches if there is no RSC rule to clarify a change. In this case, <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.

Q&A 329 did not specify whether the question was being asked for a Teamwork Challenge or Robot Skills Match. Our answer assumed that the question was referring to a Teamwork Challenge Match, since most questions do, and we apologize for any confusion this may have caused.