In our recent scrimmage event (first of the season for us) some students and coaches seemed to have different opinions about this - possibly somewhat because of protected periods in last season's game. Could you please provide confirmation on whether the scenarios labeled below are correctly interpreted.
I've seen the Q&A post Defence and SG9 from Sept 16 and the updated definition of *climbing * from that post (included below), whch helps a lot. https://www.robotevents.com/V5RC/2024-2025/QA/2139
"Climb - A Robot action. A Robot is considered to be Climbing if it has intentionally grasped, grabbed, or attached itself to the bottom/black rung of the Ladder and/or a higher point of the Ladder. In most cases, this means a Robot mechanism will be reacting against multiple sides of a rung or vertical section in an effort to latch, clamp, or hook onto the Ladder. See <SC7> for the criteria for a Robot to be considered to have Climbed to a Level."
Clarification on the points below would still help explain application of the rules regarding climbing protections to student competitors and coaches in a timely manner.
From my understanding there is no rule prohibiting robots from preventing other robots from reaching the ladder, at any point in the driver controlled period, provided they have not yet met the definition of climbing.
(a) It would be a valid strategy for a non-climbing robot to position itself between the ladder and an opposing robot that wants to reach the ladder to climb at any point in time, providing that the robot attempting to climb has not yet contacted the horizontal rungs of the ladder. There would be no violation in this case.
(b) Similar to above, if incidental contact occurs when a robot is blocking, and the robot that would like to climb has not yet reached the ladder, there is no violation.
(c) Similar to above, but the blocking robot simply places itself underneath the horizontal rungs of the ladder on the side of the alliance attempting to climb in order to prevent access. No violation.
(d) In the above situation, if the blocking robot is excessively aggressive, for instance ramming into the robot that is attempting to reach the ladder, in order to push them back. The Referee should warn the aggressive robot to be less aggressive as per G13. If they back off after a bit, this could initially be a minor violation of G13, but the temporary excessive aggressive attacks cause the robot attempting to climb to run out of time to perform their climb. The minor violation could become a match-affecting violation if the score is close, even if no visible damage occurs to the robot. (Does it matter whether they meet the definition of climbing in this case or if they simply have a mechanism and are making an attempt to reach the ladder?)
(e) A robot with a climbing mechanism is reaching for the ladder, and is quite close but has not contacted the ladder yet. An opposing robot quickly moves in front blocking access to the ladder before the climbing robot reaches it. Contact may occur between robots. If the contact is not excessively aggressive, and simply involves the blocking robot pushing the other back, G13 does not seem to be violated. There is no violation since the robot attempting to climb has not yet reached the horizontal rungs.
(f) A robot that is attempting to climb and an opposing robot attempting to prevent access to the ladder (and clearly not attempting to climb) are jostling for position. The robot attempting to climb manages to make contact with the side of the ladder rungs. The blocking robot fails to back off and give space to the climber - for instance maybe they just sit in the same position.
- Regarding the updated definition: if the robot has grasped/grabbed the rungs, they meet the definition of climbing, and the blocking robot not giving space would lead to a violation of SG9.a -if the robot is merely contacting the rung (e.g., their climbing mechanism is meant to hook on top but is contacting below, they do not meet the definition, and SG9.a won't apply, so the blocking robot need not move out of the way. However if the rungs of the ladder are on their alliance side, the blocking robot would need to back off, due to SG9.b, which gives the robot in contact with the rungs on their own alliance's side the more "offensive/safe" position.
Part of the reason this came up in our recent scrimmage event (first of the season for us) is that most climbing teams only attempted their climbs in end game, and robots that couldn't climb were seeking to play defensively. Some students felt that no-violation calls for preventing access to the ladder were controversial - this could be a misunderstanding because the previous year's game had a protected period for climbing. The rules don't supply any special protections to climbing late in the game, and the competitors should probably expect climbing to be more challenging late in the game as their opponents will be expecting them to make climbs then, after positive corner protection kicks in.