Robotics Education & Competition Foundation
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Official Q&A: VRC 2023-2024: Over Under

Usage Guidelines All Questions

1788: SG6 - Loading Questions for Method One (into the matchload zone)


Jacob Church
27-Nov-2023

For the purposes of this post most questions are related to loading method 1 - placing in the match load zone. (Particularly for VEXU as matchloading directly onto robots is not legal in vexu.) However as all of these are interactions that may occur in highschool it was asked here.

<SG6> Match Load Triballs may be safely introduced during the Match under certain conditions. Match Load Triballs may be introduced by a Drive Team Member in one of two ways:

  1. By placing the Match Load gently onto a Match Load Zone. This may be done at any time during the Driver Controlled Period, provided that no other rules are Violated. a. “Throwing,” “rolling,” or otherwise imparting enough energy onto a Triball such that it bounces out of the Match Load Zone is not permitted. b. Note that the Match Load Zone refers to the foam tile itself; it is not a three-dimensional volume. There is no rules-bound limit for how many Triballs may be in the Match Load Zone at any given time, provided that new Match Loads are placed directly onto the foam tile without violating any other rules.

Therefore it is illegal to throw or roll with sufficient energy for a triball leaves the match load zone, however this should mean that rolling or dropping without enough energy should be legal.

Considering this a few questions arise:

Is dropping into the zone with potentially sufficient energy to bounce out but ensuring a dropped orientation that keeps the triball in the zone legal? Example Is dropping triballs from the height of the field perimeter with aims to increase loading speed and ensure a safer loading process - hands kept out of the way of moving robot components a problem as long as the triball not leave the zone.

Is rolling triballs in a way that an intake would pick up the triball with no further action beyond the rolling - such as in vexu where triballs cannot be placed on a robot directly. The energy is not enough to leave the zone without the robots mechanisms.

The GDC have posted this post: https://www.robotevents.com/VRC/2023-2024/QA/1778

Match Loads must be introduced one at a time. We are not going to include any more specificity than saying “one at a time”; please interpret it using as much “common sense” as possible.

Can multiple triballs break the plane if being loaded into the match load zone rather than onto a robot such as for a VEXU match?

Can a second triball break the plane while the first is in the process of falling into the zone or onto a robot - triball has already been dropped?

Can a triball be dropped in a way that it interacts and moves a triball already placed in the matchload zone?

Can a triball be placed in a way that it shifts a triball in the matchload zone as it is placed in the zone?

Answered by committee
21-Dec-2023

Is dropping into the zone with potentially sufficient energy to bounce out but ensuring a dropped orientation that keeps the triball in the zone legal? Example Is dropping triballs from the height of the field perimeter with aims to increase loading speed and ensure a safer loading process - hands kept out of the way of moving robot components a problem as long as the triball not leave the zone.

Please review Q&A 1778, specifically the examples provided for the definitions of the word "placing" and "gently". Match Load method 1 is defined as "placing the Match Load gently onto a Match Load Zone", and the same principles apply as those provided in Q&A 1778.

Is rolling triballs in a way that an intake would pick up the triball with no further action beyond the rolling - such as in vexu where triballs cannot be placed on a robot directly. The energy is not enough to leave the zone without the robots mechanisms.

As this question explicitly refers to VEX U, please re-post it in the VEX U Q&A forum, alongside any variations of the rest of this post that are intended to have VEX-U-specific implications.

Can multiple triballs break the plane if being loaded into the match load zone rather than onto a robot such as for a VEXU match?

Can a second triball break the plane while the first is in the process of falling into the zone or onto a robot - triball has already been dropped?

Can a triball be dropped in a way that it interacts and moves a triball already placed in the matchload zone?

Can a triball be placed in a way that it shifts a triball in the matchload zone as it is placed in the zone?

It is not feasible to define millisecond-specific moments for every hypothetical interaction that a Head Referee must monitor 44 times in a Match. We would encourage Head Referees to review Q&A's 1778 and 1777, specifically the following general principles:

  • For the first two questions, would the hypothetical interaction appear to an uninformed observer as being introduced "one at a time"
  • For the second two questions, would the hypothetical interaction satisfy the overarching intent of "Robots play the game, not humans"
  • For all questions, what is the context of the Match / interaction in question, e.g., has the Team received prior warnings or Minor Violations for similar behavior