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

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537: How to Referee the unintentional shifting of cubes while strategically placing cube with RSC5 rule


Brandon Petersen (Event Partner)
5-Feb-2020

With RSC5 allowing teams to move cubes to a 'strategic' position in Programming Skills, the most common place to move the cube is along the wall, inside a Blue/Red cube.

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

As a Skills Referee, how do we handle the situation when a team uses RSC5 to move a cube in between the wall and a Blue/Red cube, but unintentionally bumps/moves/shifts the position of the cube that was already there.

  1. Would this fall under G9 where "Drivers are prohibited from making intentional contact with any Field Element, Game Object, or Robot during a Match, except for the allowances..". It is match effecting, it determines whether a team can get 10 more points, moving them up/down in the rank. If so, how do we decide to warn or DQ in this situation.
  2. If no warning or DQ, then what do we do about the cube that was shifted? Leave it? Move it back?
  3. Or do we do nothing. Just ignore that the students unintentionally shifted game elements while they strategically place a cube?
  4. Or do you have other insight in how to handle this?

Can you help me give a skills referee direction in how to handle this specific situation for an upcoming State Championship?

Answered by Game Design Committee

We believe this question is answered in this similar Q&A, specifically the following portion:

It is impossible to issue a blanket ruling that would encompass all hypothetical states of the field / Cubes. That said, any interaction between a Driver and a Game Element (that is not being reset per G17) would be considered a violation of G9.

Regarding your questions 2, 3, and 4, it should be handled as any other G9 violation would be handled.

Violations of this rule will result in a warning for minor offenses that do not affect the Match. Score affecting offenses will result in a Disqualification. Teams who receive multiple warnings may also receive a Disqualification at the Head Referee’s discretion.

Note: Accidental contact may result in a warning, Disqualification, or Disablement at the Head Referee’s discretion.