Tournament Rules - Answer Thread

[Agent Angela Page]

Hello -

Our team was considering adding some small pieces of red & blue tape to the standard game controllers as reminders for the drivers. Is this legal?

Thanks-

Labeling your game controllers with tape is legal.

[Agent Angela Page]

According to game rule 1.5.1, it states"...(teams) may not touch their driver stations until the Autonomous Period has ended." However, I wanted to know specifically if we would be allowed to use a phone mount for the remote, similar to this: http://www.amazon.com/Controller-Gam...e+clip+gamepad

Now, I know that we are not allowed to touching the remote during the autonomous period, but this would certainly be easier than having the phone sitting on the floor or having driver 2 hold it.

Thanks for your time and good luck, teams!
-FTC team 8668

Hi Team,

This would be allowed as long as it was placed on a stand (provided by the Event Director) during the autonomous period.

[Barry]

Now that the FCS is no longer in use, what software will FTC tournament officials be using to randomly generate the match assignments, and where can we download the software for use in scrimmages?

thanks

- FTC Team 6389
The Lazybotts

Hello Team!

The random match assignments are generated by the Scoring System, using an algorithm developed by Idle Loop Software Design. You can download a copy of the Scoring software on our FTC Volunteer Resources page

(Big Thanks to Idle Loop Software Design - you guys are awesome!)

Thanks for the question!

[Barry]

Is there going to be some mechanism to have a clock running during the match (as previous years) so the drivers know how much time is left in each match period and when the end game time has been reached?

Thanks for your question. There will be shot clocks at the field with the standard 'field sounds'.

[Agent Angela Page]

We are wondering if the mountain baskets are going to be attached to the mountain? If they aren't attached, then putting debris in the wrong way or dumping them would make the whole basket fall over, and give the other team points. If they aren't going to be attached, is it against the rules to pick up the basket with the robot, put debris in it, and put it back on the mountain?

The Goal Baskets are attached to the Mountain using zip ties. Please see page 10 of the AndyMark Field Setup Guide located on the FIRST website.

[Agent Angela Page]

We have found a large inconsistency in the release mechanisms of the Zip liners on our official field. One way we found (along with other teams), to remove some of the inconsistency, is to have a small rubber band per release at the top, rather than having 1 reg/large band.

Q1: Is there any way that the 1 regular rubberband can be replaced on the official fields, to 3 small rubberbands?

If not:

Q2: The Low trigger is pressed, releasing the zipliner. Then the Mid Trigger is pressed, but the zipliner gets stuck on the Low Release, do we need to hit the Low Trigger again, or do we get the points after hitting the Mid Trigger, even though the zipliner did not slide down.
Q3: Same for the High Zipliner, Do we need to have the zipliners slide down in order to get the points, or will we get the points if they get stuck after hitting the trigger. (This seems like a lot for the referees to watch for...)

Q1 Answer: Official Competition Fields will follow the instructions in the Field Setup Guide which is one rubber band.

Q2 and Q3 Answer: Rule <GS14> leaves room for the Referee to make the final determination on whether points should be awarded to a Team if the trigger was engaged, yet the Climber did not release down the zip line:

"Referees will also award credit for releasing a Climber under the following circumstances:
a. A Trigger appears to be engaged and the corresponding Climber does not release and travel the entire length of the Zip Line.
b. A Trigger rotates from an engaged/Scored orientation back to its pre-Match starting orientation after the corresponding Climber has been released by a valid method."

[Agent Angela Page]

Answers to two previous questions (http://ftcforum.usfirst.org/showthre...ll=1#post18485 and http://ftcforum.usfirst.org/showthre...ll=1#post18489) refer to team "wearing the phone on an armband".

We feel that this does not solve the problem of strain relief for the OTG cable which would be dangling from the driver station device, with the additional strain contributed by the USB hub and two attached gamepads.

Our plan was to build a board to securely fasten the driver station phone, OTG cable, and USB hub to a solid surface and clip down the USB cables leading to the game pads. It would also facilitate the coach being able to monitor telemetry information (which would seem to necessarily involve motion of the driver station device).

Can we build such a board? I envision a piece of wood, probably 6"x8", perhaps with handle holes to grab (like a kitchen cutting board - either protrusions or oval-shaped holes).

Regards,
Joe Higham
Mentor, 18 Techno Chix
Pleasantville, NY

Teams have the freedom to be creative in how they will carry all of their Drivers Station components to and from the Competition Field, and the setup explained above is legal. However, Teams must use the stands provided by the Event Host, and cannot bring their own to the Competition Field.

[Agent Angela Page]

The colors from the rescue beacon sides "bleed" if the tape is not used (Step 6-10 of Field Assembly Guide) when putting the beacon together. As the tape is shown in the official assembly guide, can we assume that the tape will be used at "Official Tournaments" to prevent the color bleed.

Official Competition Fields must follow the instructions outlined in the Field Setup Guide, and must use tape inside the Rescue Beacons in order to prevent the color from bleeding over.

[Agent Angela Page]

We have tested our robot on our team's Res-Q mountain from Andymark, and found we were able to climb our own blue and red painted panels effectively. Over the weekend our team went to a "Build Day" at our state FIRST organization's field house. On the Andymark mountain at our state's facility, we were unable to achieve sufficient traction to climb. The panels seemed slipperier than our teams' own panels. Questioning our state's volunteer officials, they indicated that the panels were slipperier on one side than the other, and that they had chosen to put the slippery side up, to provide a greater challenge to the teams.

Has this difference between the apparently identical sides of the panels been noticed elsewhere, and what is the appropriate assembly configuration? It seems like this may be a somewhat subtle difference, but one which could have a lot of influence on the performance of robots on the mountain. We are considering partially dismantling our mountain to see if flipping the panels makes a difference in our robot's climbing performance.

If there is a difference in the two panel surfaces, how can the difference be determined in the field, and what is the proper configuration for tournaments?

Team 9915

Both sides of the panels used on the Mountains were measured and tested. The difference in the coefficient of friction was so nominal that it was determined either side could be used with little to no difference in game play.

[Agent Angela Page]

Our school's 2 FTC teams (3734 and 6832) are among the teams that are pursuing the use of the ZTE phone's camera as a sensor that locates and tracks the red/blue beacons in autonomous mode. Our algorithmic approach requires collecting and storing "training data" from the red/blue beacons in the specific ambient light environment of a specific tournament venue (gym or ballroom) on a specific competition day. Will teams be allowed to take a few snapshots (or possibly short videos) of the lit beacons on the RES-Q game fields, before tournament play begins? How about between games, if the judges feel that some time can be allowed for it?

A few camera snapshots or video frames, when processed appropriately, can provide the pattern recognition data that the robots can read from stored files and use during autonomous mode. The possibilities for the students to learn about image processing and pattern recognition will be HUGE!

Calibration of a camera or sensor may be allowed during Field Inspection on competition day. Teams must understand that the location of Field Inspection varies between events, and teams might have to calibrate their cameras and sensors on the Practice Fields if this is where Field Inspection is taking place.

Teams will not have access to the Competition Fields throughout the day to make modifications to their robot or sensors. Additionally, matches will not wait for teams to calibrate their sensors or camera.