A question about a potential situation was asked this past weekend at an event and the way the rules are currently written, it could be answered in two different ways.
For Reference:
<G15> You can’t force an opponent into a penalty. Intentional strategies that cause an opponent to break a rule are not permitted, and will not result in a Violation for the opposing Alliance.
Violation Notes: In most cases, if a Team causes their opponent to break a rule, the Head Referee will simply not enforce the penalty on that opponent, and it will be considered a Minor Violation for the guilty Team. However, if the forced situation becomes Match Affecting in favor of the guilty Team, it will be considered a Major Violation.
<SG7> Don’t cross the Autonomous Line. During the Autonomous Period, Robots may not contact foam tiles, Scoring Objects, or Field Elements which are on the opposing Alliance’s side of the Autonomous Line.
Note: Scoring Objects, Wall Stakes, and portions of the Ladder that contact or are positioned above the Autonomous Line are not considered to be on either side, and may be utilized by either Alliance during the Autonomous Period.
Violation Notes: • All Violations of this rule (Major or Minor) will result in the Autonomous Bonus being awarded to the opposing Alliance. See SG8b for a potential exception caused by Autonomous Line interactions. • Intentional, strategic, or egregious Violations, such as intentional contact with an opposing Robot while contacting the foam tiles on the opposing side of the Autonomous Line, will be considered Major Violations.
<SG8> Engage with the Autonomous Line at your own risk. Any Robot who engages with Scoring Objects and/or Wall Stakes on the Autonomous Line should be aware that opponent Robots may also choose to do the same. Per G11 and G12, Teams are responsible for the actions of their Robots at all times.
During the Autonomous Period, when Robots from opposing Alliances are both engaged with the same Scoring Object or Wall Stake:
a. If a possible <G13> Violation occurs (e.g., damage, Entanglement, or tipping over), a judgment call will be made by the Head Referee within the context of G13 and G14 (just as it would if the interaction had occurred during the Driver Controlled Period).
b. Incidental Violations of <SG7> will not be penalized, nor will they result in an automatic loss of the Autonomous Bonus as described by G12. However, this allowance only applies when opposing Robots are interacting with the same element.
c. Intentional, strategic, repeated, or egregious offenses may still be deemed a Violation of G12, G13, G14, SG7, G1, and / or S1 at the Head Referee’s discretion.
These gameplay elements are intended to be utilized by either Alliance during the Autonomous Period. This will inevitably result in Robot-on-Robot interactions, both incidental and intentional. The overarching intent of SG8 is for the vast majority of these interactions to result in no rule Violations and/or penalties for either Alliance, just as no rules Violations occur in 99% of Driver Controlled interactions.
The Situation: RED1 and BLUE1 both interact with the mobile goal positioned on the autonomous line. RED1 is the stronger robot and pulls the mobile goal and BLUE1 across the autonomous line. BLUE1 crosses, but per SG8b, BLUE1 is not penalized as RED1 and BLUE1 were interacting with the same element. However as the autonomous period continues, BLUE1 releases the goal clamp and continues with it's autonomous program. While the program is continuing, BLUE1 crosses over the autonomous line again, this time not interacting with the same element as RED1 or RED2.
The Question: How should the second autonomous line cross of BLUE2 be called?
Potential Answers:
-
BLUE1 should have the protections of G15 and SG8b as the interaction with the same element as RED1 (autonomous line mobile goal) caused their (BLUE1) autonomous program to run off course. RED1 cannot force BLUE1 into a violation per G15, so this situation is a no-call scenario and the autonomous period is scored as normal.
-
BLUE should forfeit autonomous due to violating SG7 when they crossed the autonomous line a second time. Performing a goal/ring rush is a strategy that has risks associated with it and teams should account for those risks in their programming strategy.
Thank you for your time, -Cowboy