Q&A

<SC7><SC5><SG7>

How would the robots in the midfield at end of autonomous period be counted? Shown in the picture illustrated below with 2 Blue robots and 1 Red robot. One Blue robot was contacting the midfield goal and also pushed the other red robot that parked first. Another blue robot crossed the double autonomous line but entered the midfield.

Per SC5b. A yellow Pin Placed in the Midfield is Owned by the Alliance that ends the Match with a greater number of Robots in the Midfield. As this is not end of the match, yellow pin shall not be counted even with 2 parked Blue vs 1 parked Red.

Per SC7a, Points for ending the Autonomous Period in the Midfield are not included in the calculation of an Alliance’s score for the purposes of determining the Autonomous Bonus. Thus the Yellow pin shall not be counted as owned by Blue Alliance.

Per SG7, <SG7> Don’t cross the Autonomous Line, and don’t interfere with your opponents’ actions. Are all 3 robots violating?

Per SG8, <SG8> Engage with the Midfield and/or Autonomous Line during the Autonomous Period at your own risk. In this case, even if the Blue robot entered midfield and pushed the Red robot that has parked ealier time, Per SC8d, no penalty shall be given to Blue Alliance.

Result 1: No violation, midfield is allowed and autonomous line cross is allowed. With 2 parked blue vs 1 parked Red, Blue allicance won auton and also owned the yellow pin.

Result 2: No violation, midfield is allowed and autonomous line cross is allowed. Yellow pin is not owned by either Alliance. However, with 2 parked blue vs 1 Red, Blue alliance won the auton bonus points.

Result 3: All 3 robots violate SG7, thus no Auton bonus will be awarded.

Result 4: IF the Red robot did not enter the midfield but only the 2 Blue robots, then Red Alliance will receive the 12 AP, given Blue Alliance violating SG7

Could you clarify the robots in midfield at end of Autonomous Period, not end of match?

<SC7>

Hello!

If RED1 is elevated at Level 2, and is currently holding a mobile goal underneath itself, If BLUE1 pushes the mobile goal, causing RED1 to fall off the ladder, is RED1 offered protections from SG9?

Our main concern is that as per SC7 RED1 would not be considered to have "Climbed to a Level" as it is contacting a mobile goal.

Would the correct interpretation of this scenario be to assume that as RED1 was on a "higher level" regardless of whether it meets the definition of "climbed to a level", that BLUE1 can not cause a destructive incident with RED1 to remove it from the ladder?

Essentially, is a robot offered the same protections from SG9 if it is climbing the ladder with a Mobile Goal?

Cheers

Per <SC4> a switch is cleared once it has been struck by a ball and is no longer parallel with the front face of the goal wall. If a switch is cleared and then through normal game play the switch returns to the uncleared position where it remains till the end of the match, per <SC1> scoring statuses are evaluated after the match ends should the switch be evaluated based on the final position, even though <SC7>states that rapid relay is designed to be scored in real time.

Example: A ball becomes wedged in the switch, without fully passing through the target, holding the switch in a partially flipped position. The ball is later dislodged by a robot and falls back into the field, which causes the switch to return to its starting position, and is untouched till the end of the match.

How should cleared switches be scored with respect to <SC1> and <SC7>?

<SC7>

Hello,

Based on the diagram given in rule SC7 on page 28 of the 2.1 game manual, there is a level 4 above the 3-4 plane. However, the scoring chart on page 18 does not contain a point value for a level 4 climb. Would a level 4 hang be worth 0, 12, or some other larger value of points? (While this is only realistically feasible using the VURC buddy climb rules, it is still possible in V5RC given the high stake is in level 4, hence why I am asking here).

Thank you for your time.

<SG9><SC7>

SG9a states:

a. If the two Robots are not at the same Level, the higher Robot has the “right of way.” i. Point A especially applies if one Robot is not Climbing, i.e., is still in contact with the Floor. Driving directly into a Climbing Robot will always incur a Minor Violation at a minimum, even if no damage occurs.

Does “Climbing” in SG9ai refer to the criteria for “Climbed to a Level” defined by SC7? For example, RED1 is attempting to climb and BLUE1 is on the ground trying to defend them. Is it legal for a BLUE1 to drive into RED1 to stop them from climbing if RED1 is touching the ladder but still contacting the tiles? If not, what criteria should referees use to determine when a robot starts “climbing”?

<SC7> <G17>

Hello!

At our season opener we encountered a situation where a team managed to become high-centered on a ring whilst contacting the ladder, being off the ground and thus meeting all criteria of SC7: > a) The Robot is contacting the ladder > b) The Robot is not contacting any other Field elements, including the gray foam tiles. > c) The Robot is not contacting any Mobile Goals. > d) The Robot's lowest point is past that Level's minimum height from the gray foam tiles.

As the definition of a Field Element does not include game elements such as Rings, would this mean this robot if meeting all other points of SC7 is considered elevated? Additionally, G17 stipulates that

Scoring Objects may not be used to accomplish actions that would otherwise be illegal if they were attempted by Robot mechanisms

Would a robot becoming high-centered on a ring and achieving a Level 1 Elevation be considered in violation of G17 as the ring is acting as a "glove" to prevent them from touching the ground?

If the above is legal, are teams allowed to employ strategies to achieve Level 1 Elevations by sitting on rings?

Furthermore, as the team is now no longer contacting the level 0-1 plane, are the team now able to break the level 2-3 plane as a result of sitting on a ring?

Cheers

<SC7>

<SC7> An Autonomous Win Point is awarded to any Alliance that ends the Autonomous Period with the following tasks completed::

a. Removed the Triball from the Alliance’sMatch Load Zone that coincides with their Starting Tiles. For example, in Figure 21, the red Alliance must remove the Triball that begins in the bottom-left Match Load Zone, adjacent to Robot 1’s Starting Tiles.

I am confused about it. What if Robot 2 alone removes the triball that begins in the bottom-right Match Load Zone? Basically, the rule doesn't say in order to get the AWP for the Red alliance team, both robot should get individual triball or either one of them should get the corresponding triball, or only Robot 1 should get the ball? Thanks.

Can a team surrender the autonomous bonus for an autonomous win point? Was at a tournament a team crossed under the elevation crossbar touching the tile on the other side to get the autonomous win point. Is this right should the team get the win point? SC7-d not violated any other rules. But touching the tile on the other side is a rule violation.<SC7>

<SC7><R9> License Plate – A physical component on the Robot that displays the Team’s VEX IQ Robotics Competition number. The License Plate must have a length and height of 3.5” x 1.5” (88.9mm x 38.1mm) and must not exceed a width of 0.25” (6.35mm) per <R9>.

An Official License Plate, being a physical component of the robot, is the only part of the robot breaking the plane would the robot be counted as partially parked?

Would a Printed Plate, that counts only as a non-functional decorations, count as partially parked if it was only part breaking the plane?

This has come up with my teams in previous years, but hasn't mattered much. With this year's supply zone and fully parking, it has now become an important question. When determining size restrictions of a robot, do loose cables count? Is it the same ruling when considering a breach of the parking zone? I see two possible solutions:

• Either they do not count for size and do not count for parking (ie a cable over the zone is not a partial park, or a cable outside the zone with the rest of the robot inside is still a full park)
• or they do count for size (cables must be within starting size configuration) and do count for parking (ie a cable over the zone is a partial park and a cable outside the zone with the rest of the robot inside is not a full park)

Obviously I can teach kids about proper cable management, but they resist without explicit rulings. There is a note in R1 about subsystems 2&3 being a part of the robot, but I am still unclear if that includes cables as it specifies motors but not cables.

Thank you!

Suppose that robot Red1 in figure 21 is able to successfully remove a triball from the match load zone, but in the process moving, accidentally hits the triball such that it lands back in the same match load zone. Would this still count as successfully completing SC7a?

Do robots need to be contacting the floor to be considered parked, or can they be sitting on top of blocks that have not been cleared from the supply zone just as long as the robot is within the boundaries of the supply zone? <SC7>

<SC7>

For Condition A in SC7 for the conditions of the Autonomous Win Point, it states "Removed the Triball from the Alliance’s Match Load Zone that coincides with their Starting Tiles. For example, in Figure 21, the red Alliance must remove the Triball that begins in the bottom-left Match Load Zone, adjacent to Robot 1’s Starting Tiles." Does the robot have to physically remove the triball from the loading area on its own or can the robot touch the match load pole and a drive team member load the match load on the robot and still meet condition A? We are a little confused by this because we know that Autonomous means no humans. Thank you, have a great weekend!

<SG8> <SG8(d)> states "Stay out of your opponent’s Goal unless they are Double-Zoned." (d) "Entering an opponent’s Goal is not permitted at any time during the Autonomous Period."

<SC7> <SC7(d)> states "An Autonomous Win Point is awarded to any Alliance that has completed the following tasks at the end of the Autonomous Period:" (d) "Not violated any other rules."

Many teams are pushing (or attempting to push) their alliance triball under the opponents goal for the five points in the Autonomous Period. While it is possible, it is not easy at all to score the triball without the robot breaking the plane. SG8(d) is very clear that you can’t enter the opponents goal (break the vertical plane with your robot) in auton.

1. If, while scoring their own Alliance Triball in the opponents goal, the robots breaks the plane, a) is it a minor or major penalty? b) If it is a minor penalty that affects the winner of the Autonomous Bonus, is it then a major penatly (awarding the Autonomous Bonus to the opponent)? c) To determine if it is autonomous impacting - is it a five point differential (the difference between the triball scored in a goal (5 points) and a triball touching your robot (0 points) or is it a three point differential (the difference between the triball scored in a goal (5 points) and a triball scored in the offensive zone (2 points)?

2. Does this also mean loss of AWP (whether it is a major or minor) via SC7(d) even if all of the tasks to achieve the AWP were completed without violation (essentially, this violation did not help them complete the tasks needed for AWP).

EDIT: Including question about how to score a potentially illegally placed triball.

<SC7>

• <SC7b> reads "Scored at least one Alliance Triball in the Alliance’s own Goal.
• The definition of Alliance Triball is "Alliance Triball – One of four Triballs, two per Alliance, that are Alliance-colored instead of green.Alliance Triballs may be used as Preloads or Match Loads."

A scenario that teams have interpreted differently:

RED1 removed triball from Match Load Zone and touched the Elevation Bar successfully. RED2 does not move. BLUE1 legally (without breaking the plane) scores a blue alliance triball into Red Goal. BLUE2 does not move. At the end of the autonomous period, since it is specified in <SC7b> as having to be in the Alliance's own Goal, but does not specify that it has to be the alliance's own Triball, is this an AWP for RED?

Additonally, <SC7> does read that the AWP "is awarded to any Alliance that has completed the following tasks". It can be interpreted that the RED alliance did not complete that task, the BLUE alliance did. I know that previous year's rulings do not impact this year's rulings, but the context is good to understand the different interpretations - in previous years, if the one alliance did something to aid the opposing alliance achieve the AWP, it was counted.

Hi, From Rule<SG7>, it states that “Robots are free to incidentally drive through Triballs on the field while Possessing a Triball. ” Furthermore, from the Game-Specific Definitions, “pushing/plowing Triballs is not considered Possession. ”

Linking back to our question, we have two scenarios that question the extent of these rules.

Scenario 1 ( https://youtube.com/shorts/U6c3kIIiqXo?feature=share ): Demonstrated above, multiple triballs are originally in front but not within the Goal, and our robot, possessing one triball with our intake, pushes them in. Would this be considered both possessing and scoring multiple triballs at the same time?

Scenario 2 ( https://youtu.be/clMt3Ld1e90 ): In the video, multiple triballs are shown in the red offensive zone under the red elevation bar. Furthermore, our robot (blue team) possessing one triball with our intake, plows through the triballs to our own blue zone. In doing so, the triballs originally in the red offensive zone would be in the blue scoring zone instead. Would this be considered an illegal act of possessing multiple triballs whilst scoring?

Thank you for your time.

<SC7>

I have a question regarding the criteria for the Autonomous Win Point.

<SC7a> indicates that the triball must be removed from the alliance match load zone that corresponds with their starting tiles. It also provides reference using figure 21 of a possible scenario for the red alliance.

For clarification, due to not being able to cross into the opposing zone, the only valid cases of robots removing the triball are blue robot 2 and red robot 1, for the purposes of the Autonomous Win Point?

The current wording of <SC7> states that the four autonomous objectives by “at the end of the autonomous period”. This implies that these objectives, specifically emptying the match loader, can be undone before the end of the autonomous period. The only potential rule violation would be <SG9> through <G17>, however, the tribal isn’t interfering with the opponents autonomous play. Provided below is an example match; BLUE1 empties the match loader, and BLUE2 pushes their alliance tribal into the blue alliance goal, before contacting the elevation bar. RED2 scores 5 triballs in the alliance goal, while RED1 waits until the final 3 seconds before shooting a tribal into the blue match loader closest to the blue alliance's starting location. Does Blue receives an autonomous winpoint? Red receive three autonomous bonus? Red1 receives a violation? Thank you for your time, 334V

<SC7> An Autonomous Win Point is awarded to any Alliance that has completed the following tasks at the end of the Autonomous Period:

[…]

d. Not violated any other rules.

<S4> Wear safety glasses. All Drive Team Members must wear safety glasses or glasses with side shields while in the Alliance Stations during Matches.

If a Drive Team Member is breaking <S4>, will this prevent their Alliance from being awarded the Autonomous Win Point?