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

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1808: <SG5> Lifting the Goal in an attempt to add or remove triballs


Spencer Vaughan (Event Partner)
3-Dec-2023

Hello, Reading through <SG5>, we can see that in the attached note, "Lifting the net structure in an attempt to add or remove Triballs is considered a Violation of <SG5>", recently QA1684 had highlighted that pretty much all VRC rules are only intended to apply to one Team / Robot.

Given that lifting the net without adding or removing triballs is a legal action as per the note and shooting triballs is also a legal action, by this logic one robot may lift the net structure to open a goal for another robot to shoot directly into it.

In regards to <G3>, there are no obvious typographical errors, and no rule is prohibiting this action and we are assuming that as it stands it is currently legal, given that there was leeway left for the net to be opened provided no triballs were added or removed, would it be correct to assume that this is not governed by <G3>?

Assuming that this is logic is sound, we would like to ask the following:

Provided that a robot does not contact the net, and lifts the net only by contacting the net structure, Is the strategy described above legal in VRC and VEXU?

In regards to the above, I want to also clarify how this would relate to QA1685, in which it is stated that in safety or damage related circumstances robots may be disabled in the autonomous period, leading on to the following question:

If a net is open, it may lead to unanticipated risks of entanglement and damage to the field in autonomous, should robots that are heading in the direction of an open goal in the autonomous period be disabled before contact?

Lastly, regardless of whether a net was opened strategically or not, in the event that a net is open, how should triballs be considered scored in the following scenarios?

  1. Triballs within the PVC pipes that are no longer underneath the net, as per <SC3>:

at least (2) corners of the Triball are within the Goal (i.e., are under the Net and have "broken the plane" of the outer edge of the PVC pipes that define the goal volume.

Therefore, when a net has been opened, as the triballs are no longer underneath the net (but within the PVC pipes), are they considered scored in the goal? Based on Figure 24 under <SC3>, it is shown that two corners are in the goal, not underneath the net and considered scored. Would it be correct to assume that triballs still count, and that they are not physically required to be under the new location of the net. 2. If the net is open, would triballs underneath the open net be considered scored? Would the PVC pipes of the net structure be an extension of the "within the PVC pipes" part of <SC3>?

Cheers and thank you for your time, Southern Hemi-Spencer

Answered by committee
19-Dec-2023

Provided that a robot does not contact the net, and lifts the net only by contacting the net structure, Is the strategy described above legal in VRC and VEXU?

No. As described in clause a of rule <T10>, “Field Element tolerances may vary from nominal by up to ±1.0.” Sheet 8 of 15 on page A13 of Appendix A illustrates that the nominal position of the Goal puts the Goal in contact with the top of the field perimeter. Cases in which a Robot intentionally moves a stationary Field Element out of tolerance should be ruled as Violations of rule <S1> and result in a DQ for that Robot (or Alliance, if the Violation occurs during an Elimination Match).

If a net is open, it may lead to unanticipated risks of entanglement and damage to the field in autonomous, should robots that are heading in the direction of an open goal in the autonomous period be disabled before contact?

No. The disablement described in the Note for rule <G11> and Q&A 1685 is only intended for cases where a Robot is exhibiting an immediate safety hazard. It is not possible to accurately predict the severity or duration of a hypothetical future entanglement.

Lastly, regardless of whether a net was opened strategically or not, in the event that a net is open, how should triballs be considered scored …?

If the Goal moves out of tolerance during a Match, a Triball should be considered scored in that Goal if it is not contacting a Robot of the same color Alliance as the Goal and if at least 2 corners of the Triball have broken the plane of the outer edge of the PVC pipes that define the Goal volume (i.e., would meet the requirements of <SC3> if the Goal were within tolerance).

Cases in which the Goal moves out of tolerance during normal gameplay or not due to Robot interactions may be eligible for a Match Replay as described in rule <T7>.