This past weekend, there was an instance where a team did not fire their endgame, but while the match was being scored it fired and landed outside the field. I was already over at the next match as everything already "came to rest" and was ready to be scored. I went over to the field after my match ended and talked to the team about how their robot fires their endgame. Due to how they have their pneumatics hooked up, a loss in pressure can cause the launcher to fire. They did inform me that they had a slight pneumatic leak and that is what caused it to fire. I will note that my scorekeepers said that none of them touched the robot.
This could be one of two scenarios for rulings based on which of the two rules takes precedence: < G3 > or < S2 >.
< G3 > : If this rule takes precedence, then it should not be ruled a DQ per < S2 > as the team did not intend to fire the mechanism. < S2 > : If this rule takes precedence, then it should be ruled a DQ as they are "responsible for the actions of their robots at all times"
As the Head Referee, I ruled it as a DQ per < S2 > due to the reasoning above.
Can further clarification be provided on which of these two rules would take precedence so that we know for future events?
Thank you,
Cowboy Chris