The official VEX IQ Robotics Competition Question & Answer system has closed for this season.
Official Q&A: VEX IQ Robotics Competition 2024-2025: Rapid Relay
2450: Forcefully Rolling Balls Into Robot During Rapid-Loading
The team's strategy relies on forcefully rolling the ball from starting zone 2 into the intake on the robot, which is positioned just at the edge of the starting zone 2.
This seems to violate <SG5>d:
Rapid Load Balls may only be removed from the Starting Zone by a Robot action (e.g., picked up by an intake, pushed by a moving Robot, etc.). Rapid Load Balls cannot be bounced or rolled out of that Starting Zone by a Loader).
The primary force removing the ball from the starting zone is the force applied by the loader, not the robot mechanism. If the robot was not present the ball would clearly be capable of travelling much further than the distance to the goal, and without the loader rolling the ball, the robot would have a much more difficult time removing the ball from the starting zone, if it would even be capable of doing so.
Q&A 2367 states:
A motor-driven, moving part of the Robot could be considered a Robot action. Removing a Rapid Load Ball from the Starting Zone with a moving part of the Robot would generally not be a Violation of SG5.
But it's not clear in this video how much the motor is contributing to the removal of the ball vs the action of the loader.
<SG5> Note 2 seems to further indicate that this type of loading is not acceptable:
Note 2: Although it is not required, placing the Ball gently down onto the Field without any additional motion is highly recommended. Unorthodox strategies, such as “tossing” or “rolling” the Ball, will not receive any “benefit of the doubt” if the Head Referee cannot clearly confirm that all criteria have been met (especially clauses “B” and “D”).
Is this method of loading allowed? As a head ref I would like to be able to make a fair and correct ruling if a team uses this strategy in one of my competitions.
Note: As of the January 28, 2025, game manual update, Rapid Load Balls cannot be rolled or bounced, and must be placed in stationary positions. Parts of our original answer to this question no longer apply.
We believe the strategy you describe would not meet the guidance provided in our answer to Q&A 2367 (the pertinent portion of that answer is included below), and should be considered a Score Affecting and/or intentional <SG5> Violation that results in a Disqualification for the Match.
From Q&A 2367: The final decision of whether a specific Robot and mechanism meets the requirements of rule <SG5> must be made by the Head Referee at the event. Some factors that can help Head Referees make this decision are:
- Would the Rapid Load Ball still be removed from the Starting Zone if the Robot wasn't turned on? If the answer is yes, then that motor-driven, moving Robot part is not much different from a passive mechanism and is probably not removing Balls from the Starting Zone. Even when that part is moving, the Ball is being removed due to some other action, such as being rolled by the Loader, which would be a Violation of <SG5>.
- Could the Robot obtain the Rapid Load if it was put in a stationary position by a Loader? If rolling or some other motion caused by a human Loader is required for the Robot to obtain the Ball, that Ball is probably not being removed by a Robot action, and it's a Violation of <SG5>.