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Official Q&A: VEX V5 Robotics Competition 2025-2026: Push Back
2908: Guidance on GG14 Egregious Tipping Examples
GG14 Section B. states “Some incidental tipping, Entanglement, and damage may occur as a part of normal gameplay without Violation. It will be up to the Head Referee’s discretion whether the interaction was incidental or intentional.”
The violation notes also state “Intentional and/or egregious tipping, Entanglement, or damage may be considered a Major Violation at the Head Referee’s discretion.”
Could the GDC provide some more guidance on how to determine if a tip was egregious or not? Some examples have been provided below:
Scenario 1: red robot drives into blue robot; the blue robot begins to tip over. The red robot continues to push into blue, instead of backing up causing the blue robot to tip over for the remainder of the match. There’s over a minute remaining in the match.
Scenario 2: Same as scenario 1; however there is 30 seconds remaining in the match.
Scenario 3: red and blue collide causing blue to tip over; there was no way for red to back off to prevent the tip. There’s over a minute remaining in the match.
Scenario 4: Same as scenario 3; however there is 30 seconds remaining in the match.
Would any of these scenarios change if the blue robot was able to right-themselves? Would the minor/major violation ruling change if red robot removed themselves from play and did not continue to contribute to a winning match score?
Thanks for your questions, Paige!
We're unable to provide blanket guidance to easily categorize tipping, entanglement, or damaging interactions as egregious or not. Head Referees should consider many factors:
- How much of the 2-minute Match time was affected?
- Was the affected Robot engaged in offensive or defensive play?
- Where they trying to score or de-score?
- Could the affected Robot have changed the outcome of the Match if they hadn't been tipped/entangled/damaged?
- Was the affected Robot design prone to tipping, entanglement, or damage?
- Was the interaction caused by one Robot, or was it a mutual outcome of standard gameplay?
- Did the "offender" try to stop the Violation after it began?
- Did the "offender" take any action to help afterward?
This guidance in the V5RC Head Referee Guide in the RECF Library also applies:
"When deciding whether tipping, entanglement, or damage should be penalized for being intentional or egregious, pay attention to whether the 'pushing' robot backs away when their opponent begins to tip, become entangled, or risk damage or if they continue to force the other robot over or into entanglement or damage. A team that backs away should generally not be penalized based on intent, and the one that continues to push probably should. Clear verbal warnings are important in this situation, to give all teams opportunities to avoid violations. For more information on these interactions, view the Head Referee training videos from the Turning Point or Change Up seasons (note that the pertinent rule number has changed since these seasons, and some of the game-specific information no longer applies)."