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

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1636: What Constitutes a Potential G2 Violation (GDC edition)


Evan Rogerson
1-Sep-2023

In Q and A 1624 the REC Foundation Competition Judging Committee stated that despite this being a question related to judging, since it discussed game manual rules they could not rule on it. So, I ask the GDC for clarifications on what constitutes a potential G2 violation. All rulings in the Code of Conduct discuss what should be down in a potential code of conduct violation; however, there is not a general consensus about what actually classifies as a potential code of conduct violation. There has been much discussion around this issue and without an official ruling, this will be decided by each local event. Some judges and EPs state that if a team is not capable of fully recreating their code without any access to the internet, then they would be in violation of G2. Others have stated that nothing should be done unless there is an direct admission of doing something illegal. Both of these rulings seam on the extreme side however I am confident that both will occur without an official clarification. I believe that in order to have consistent rulings, there need to be examples of what the "correct" or "most accurate" ruling would be in the following scenarios (or any other scenarios the GDC believes would help clarify the situation)

" Since all of the scenarios listed below contain evidence of students not fulling understanding their code, should every one of these scenarios be treated as potential rule G2 violations? Should all of these scenarios result in the RECF being contacted by the EP and the team's coach being spoken to about the concern in accordance with the Event Code of Conduct Process, or would some of the scenarios not constitute a potential rule G2 violation?

A.

Judge: Can you please explain to me how your team's programming works?

Student: We use the built-in Vex code commands.

Judge: Can you elaborate on how you use this to tell the robot to move around the field?

Student: We put in the dimensions of the robot base and then we can just tell the robot to move a certain distance and turn to certain angles.

Judge: Can you explain any of the math or code behind how this works?

Student: No.

B.

Judge: Can you please explain to me how your team's programming works?

Student: We use the built-in PROS (a third-party software) commands.

Judge: Can you elaborate on how you use this to tell the robot to move around the field?

Student: We put in the dimensions of the robot base and then we can just tell the robot to move a certain distance and turn to certain angles.

Judge: Can you explain any of the math or code behind how this works?

Student: No.

C.

Judge: Can you please explain to me how your team's programming works?

Student: We use a PID control loop to tell our robot how far to travel This allows the robot to slow down as it approaches its desired value.

Judge: Can you elaborate on the process of how you tuned your PID constants?

Student: We just changed the numbers until it worked.

Alternatively, if the CoJ does not like the example scenarios I provided, could a few examples stating what conduct should and should not be reported be provided?"

G2  
Answered by committee
21-Sep-2023

Note: This response has been co-authored by members of the committees responsible for Game Design, Judging, and Code of Conduct investigations.

The subject of investigating G1 and G2 Violations is inherently subjective, and intentionally designed to be handled case-by-case. We will continue to deny providing blanket guidance for hypothetical scenarios; at best, these scenarios undermine the case-by-case nature of investigations for teams who are innocent, and at worst, provide an "answer key" to teams who wish to circumvent G1/G2.

With that in mind, a revised Code of Conduct reporting process has been published. This process provides clear guidelines for exactly what a Judge (or any other volunteer, event participant, or event attendee) should do when they have a concern about a potential G1 or G2 Violation.

There is no case in which a volunteer Judge will have to decide whether a team has violated either rule.

As described in the article linked above, all concerns should be brought to the attention of the Event Partner, Head Referee, and/or Judge Advisor. This group of people will make a decision in coordination with the REC Foundation, and the incident will be reported to the Code of Conduct Committee for any needed action or follow-up.

If your question (as an Event Partner) is how to address these concerns once they have been brought to your attention, the article above also outlines your recommended procedures and escalation steps.

Regarding your scenarios A-C, they serve as examples for why this process is necessary. Any of these scenarios could reasonably be reported to the Judge Advisor if the Judges feel that the Robot’s code is beyond the abilities of the student Team members. Or, it is also possible that each of these scenarios would not raise any student-centered "red flags" to the Judges, based on other factors or context. It is not realistic, or fair to the teams involved, to make a determination based on two lines of a judging interview.