Robo-Cross B

[sschaack]

Thanks. Post to the national site is a pain with having to site specific rules sections and all. Especially, since this doesn't really fit a specific part.

[chalker]

As usual, all warnings apply, this isn't official better to ask on NSO site for official response, etc...

A reasonably general principal is, "If it isn't forbidden, it is allowed." By that principal, seems a reasonable interpretation.
Safety of course trumps that. If it requires burning down the building to accomplish a task, even though not explicitly forbidden, ES can forbid on spot on safety grounds.
Some use 'spirit of the competition' or 'intent of the rules' to outlaw additional things, something I'm not in favor of.

But again, that's why my comment cannot be official...

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

General rule #2 is my personal favorite rule. A lot of people tend to forget the general rules: http://www.soinc.org/ethics_rules

[jander14indoor]

Yeah, I just don't like the whole 'spirit of the problem' thing because it can be so open to personal interpretation. Whenever possible I try to stick to strict interpretation of the exact words. Which is one big reason for the "not official" warnings.

That said, I forgot to check the FAQs before I answered and if I had I would have found this:
•01/05/2014 - 22:24 The rules state that the robot may move the bonus jug and robot parts may end up in or on the Bonus Jug. Can the Bonus Jug be ON the robot itself within the scoring zones and be scored according to the zone the robot is in?
Yes.

A variation on the original posters question, but gives you the flavor at least.

And again, a query to the national site will get you an official answer. And its not that painful, as to siting the rules, I think that's pretty open if you make some effort you should still get an answer.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[sschaack]

Jeff,
I did look at the FAQ, but nothing matched my exact work-around. On the other hand, I suppose if (as the FAQ says) you can have all the objects in the jug, and have the jug on the robot, that's no different than just having all the parts inside the robot and in Zone D (or C).

All of you rules-benders out there might find this interesting. My student in the event noticed that the rules say the event is stopped if the competitor steps on the playing field AFTER having received a warning (5.f.vi). He asked, "does that mean I can 'step' on the playing field once and accidentally knock all the objects into Zone C?" (assuming he hasn't been already warned about something else) And you know what? The rules never say the competitors can't do that. It says they can't touch the robot, and that the control wires for the robot can't touch the objects, but nothing about the competitors touching the objects. Now, this one I certainly understand falls under the "spirit of competition" implied rules, but still. Gotta give the kid (a 6th grader) credit for thinking outside the box. ... Maybe I should ask for an official rules clarification on that one?

[Skink]

That violates General Rule #1.

[couragecat]

The "modification" rule is vague because it is VERY hard to determine ahead of time based on verbal or written descriptions. If you look back up the chain you've seen my (unofficial) opinion.
The more obvious/in depth the modification is the less likely you'll be challenged.
If you are challenged, the competitors should be able to explain clearly what the modification is and how it changes the behavior of the system. You might be prepared to go so far as to remove the modification and show how the robot can't do something it could with it.
In the case of what I understand you are suggesting, adding a rubber gripping surface to your claw, show that without it you drop object easily, with it, you don't. Perhaps have that as part of your technical data. Without rubber, can't complete task in 3 minutes, with, you can complete task in 2:30 on avg.

Reminder, take this as opinion/suggestion, I'm not your ES (most likely) and this is NOT the official channel.

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

Thanks, this helped and gave me some good ideas. I really appreciate it.

[Flavorflav]

I might be your ES. What region are you in?

I'm in the Buffalo region

Not me, then. If you feel you need further confirmation of what Mr. Anderson said, I would suggest you have your coach contact the regional director. You can access their email through the State site.

[riceman]

San Diego California Regionals were held yesterday and I would like to thank everyone here who contributed thoughts and discussion that helped our school to a very nice showing in the Robocross event. Let me first say that this regional is the largest in California with 101 teams registered this year. Some schools like ours had multiple teams entered. I'm not sure though how many actual entries there were in Robocross but there was some serious competition for sure. With that said our three entries finished

Fourth place: Perfect run 183 points in time of 2:12
Sixth place: Perfect run 183 points in time of 2:27
Thirteenth place: 171 points in time of 2:57

Out of respect for teams still competing I won't give specifics of our designs but I did get a nice video of the fourth place run which I might eventually post on youtube when all is over.

Thanks again to everyone here. This was a fun event and I hope it returns again next year.

[jander14indoor]

As the guy who has to break those ties at nationals, did they settle them with the first tie breaker only, or did they have to go to the second? Were the two tie breakers sufficient?

Thanks,

Jeff Anderson
Livonia, MI

[UQOnyx]

whoa that's crazy. Fantastic scores! I have a question as to why some regions don't do all the events at regionals. I think it gives a slightly unfair advantage over other competitors because they have already participated in the event while for others, it is their first time (like me )