Making a strategy ahead of time and seeing the track

[wsgluh]

Hello,

Robot tour is an event open to public viewing. And the track is released after impound. Doesn't this mean that:

If a team is scheduled to do robot tour at the end of the competition, then after impound, they could view the track, draw it or take a picture of it, and then devise a strategy for their robot before it's their turn to do robot tour? The team had far more than 10 minutes to come up with a strategy to run their robot? Therefore, should students be allowed to see the track hours before they're scheduled for the event and come up with a strategy for the event?

Off topic question: I saw a robot that stopped every 50 CM when going forward. The team's justification was that the robot stops to check its gyroscope every 50CM and correct its heading if it's going off course. They even pointed to the segment of the code which performs this action. Is this a valid justification or does this qualify for a stalling penalty?

[brian9640]

1st Question:

f a team is scheduled to do robot tour at the end of the competition, then after impound, they could view the track, draw it or take a picture of it, and then devise a strategy for their robot before it's their turn to do robot tour? The team had far more than 10 minutes to come up with a strategy to run their robot? Therefore, should students be allowed to see the track hours before they're scheduled for the event and come up with a strategy for the event?

Yes. Robot Tour can be a public event. Teams are allowed to see other teams compete and the track setup. Pictures of the track should not be allowed as teams should only be taking pictures while their team is competing. Otherwise, it becomes difficult to verify teams are not taking pictures of other team's devices. Teams can determine a strategy before their timeslot. But per the rules, teams cannot bring any paper with them when time to compete. Only paper that was impounded can be used. Teams cannot work on their program before their timeslot. They must use their impounded program. Otherwise a team would get the Fail to Impound penalty (5000 points) if they open a program that was not impounded.

2nd Question:

Off topic question: I saw a robot that stopped every 50 CM when going forward. The team's justification was that the robot stops to check its gyroscope every 50CM and correct its heading if it's going off course. They even pointed to the segment of the code which performs this action. Is this a valid justification or does this qualify for a stalling penalty?

Per this FAQ https://www.soinc.org/if-robot-pauses-1 ... l-momentum, the stalling penalty is awarded for repetitive motions. As I read this FAQ, the pauses are not a motion and allowed. Plus the team's description is an action with the intent to improve their distance score. I know several sensors require the robot to be motionless to work correctly. Also per the rules, stalling must occur within the target 50 x 50cm zone or an adjacent 50 x 50cm zone to receive the stalling penalty.

[wsgluh]

Yes. Robot Tour can be a public event. Teams are allowed to see other teams compete and the track setup. Pictures of the track should not be allowed as teams should only be taking pictures while their team is competing. Otherwise, it becomes difficult to verify teams are not taking pictures of other team's devices. Teams can determine a strategy before their timeslot. But per the rules, teams cannot bring any paper with them when time to compete. Only paper that was impounded can be used. Teams cannot work on their program before their timeslot. They must use their impounded program. Otherwise a team would get the Fail to Impound penalty (5000 points) if they open a program that was not impounded.

Per this FAQ https://www.soinc.org/if-robot-pauses-1 ... l-momentum, the stalling penalty is awarded for repetitive motions. As I read this FAQ, the pauses are not a motion and allowed. Plus the team's description is an action with the intent to improve their distance score. I know several sensors require the robot to be motionless to work correctly. Also per the rules, stalling must occur within the target 50 x 50cm zone or an adjacent 50 x 50cm zone to receive the stalling penalty.

Question 1: Can teams look at the track and draw the track on paper and take it back to their homeroom? I think this should be allowed as long as they don't bring that paper back to use, since it was not impounded.

Question 2: Therefore, a robot's motion should be completely continuous and have no stops in it except for turns and for the end.

[brian9640]

Question 2: Therefore, a robot's motion should be completely continuous and have no stops in it except for turns and for the end.

To be clear, per the rules and the FAQs, a Robot can have pauses between motions. Many sensors require no motion for the sensor to have a valid results.