Andy,

  If the robot is rescued (touched while outside of Base) while
carrying Cargo that it has collected, then the Cargo is taken out of
play (Rule 18, bullet 2).  So, in your example, if all the pink, red,
green, and purple bacteria were in the robot, and it got stuck under
the table and needed to be rescued, the the referee would take all 48
of those bacteria away from the robot and out of play.  Plus one
yellow bacterium for a touch penalty, of course.  Cargo is not left in
place on the mat when the robot is rescued.

As you noted, the scoring conditions for the Disinfect mission are
pretty simple:  (A) count the number of empty dispensers, and (B)
check to see if any bacteria are touching the mat outside Base.  In
your example, the dispensers are probably worth 48 points--all four
are empty, and they should be worth 12 points each.  There is
absolutely no requirement that the dispenser bacteria be brought to
Base in order to be able to score 12 points for each dispenser.

(I am hedging my words a little bit.  If your robot decided to take a
yellow bacterium out of Base and drop it onto the mat, then that could
cause the dispensers to be worth 7 points each, too.  I don't expect
anyone to do this intentionally, of course.)

For your second question, yes, one single bacterium of any color
**touching** the mat outside Base will cause the value of *every*
empty dispenser to be 7 points instead of 12 points.  The colors of
the red, pink, green, purple bacteria have no meaning in scoring, just
for sorting and setup.  So it could be important to your team to be
tidy when emptying the dispensers, or when washing hands at the sink.

Steve

On Tue, Oct 25, 2011 at 10:40 PM, Andy Traiger <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Steve,
>
> In regards to the bacteria and base, I have a related question that I don't
> understand.  Let's say your robot has possession every bacterium from all
> four dumping stations (pink, red, green and purple) and before it makes it
> back to base it gets stuck.  What happens to the bacteria?  Does the ref
> dump it on the mat right where it got stuck or does he take it out of play
> off the table?  How would this be scored?  The mission requirements simply
> state that you get 12 points for each of the four dumping stations if no
> bacteria is touching the mat outside base.  So would you still get 48 points
> if your robot successfully removes them from the dumping stations without
> spilling any on the mat but failed to make it back to base and had to be
> rescued?
>
> A second question about bacteria scoring:
> The rules state:
> "Empty dispensers are worth twelve points each, if NO bacteria touching the
> mat outside base."
>
> Does this mean that if the robot successfully retrieves (none touching the
> mat) all bacteria of red, purple and pink but spilled a single green one
> that the value of all four empty dispensers decreases from 12 to 7, or do
> you still get 12 points for the three successful retrievals and seven for
> the unsuccessful one?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Andy
> Coach Vienna Robotics
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: First Lego League in Virginia and DC
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of VA/DC Referee Advisor
> Sent: Tuesday, October 25, 2011 10:14 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Re: [VADCFLL-L] Cargo in base
>
> Rule 21, tells us that for an object to be In Base
>  -- any part of that object is in the volume over the Base area (and
> under the 16 inch limit, of course).  As long as a single atom of the
> object is over the line, then the entire object is in Base.
>
> So, I think that that is what you want to hear.  As soon as the
> tiniest portion of the farm truck crosses into Base, the truck is in
> Base and may be handled by the team.  As soon as the tiniest portion
> of the refrigerated trailer crosses into Base, the trailer is Base and
> may be handled by the team.
>
> But--Rule 21 also says that individual objects are ruled on
> independently.  So, for example, if your team puts a rat or the pizza
> into the trailer and then takes the trailer to Base, then the trailer
> might be in Base, but the pizza or the rat might still not be in Base,
> and if the team touches the robot or cargo, then some items would stay
> in Base with the team (the trailer), and others could be taken out of
> play (the pizza or rat), per Rule 18.
>
>
> Don't despair though.  Game update 24, Multi-part Models (at
> http://firstlegoleague.org/challenge/robotgameupdates), says that the
> farm truck and its produce and the trailer and its bacteria are
> treated as a single model for purposes of entering base.  So as soon
> as the truck starts to cross into Base, your team may take the truck
> and its produce into Base for handling or storage.  The same for the
> trailer and its bacteria--it can be moved out of the way as soon as it
> starts to enter Base.
>
>
> Reminder--the robot has to cross into Base itself to avoid a touch
> penalty.  So if the robot is pushing either of those cargo items into
> Base, the cargo item might be in Base without a penalty, but the robot
> could still incur a penalty.
>
> I hope that this helps to make things clear.  Remember, it is
> important to distinguish between what happens to an individual cargo
> item, which might be different than what happens to the rest of the
> cargo.
>
> Steve Scherr
> VA/DC FLL Referee Advisor
>
> On Tue, Oct 25, 2011 at 9:50 PM, Mandy Wilson <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>> Just to verify – Does rule 21 mean that if only part of the cargo reaches
>> base then it is considered in base for points and the team can move the
>> cargo out of the way?  This is a particular problem for my team concerning
>> the produce truck and the refrigerator truck.
>>
>>
>>
>> Thanks for any help!
>>
>>
>>
>> Mandy Wilson
>>
>> Coach of Team Piheads
>>
>> www.piheads.com
>>
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