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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