Brandy and Mark have stated things correctly.

1)  Although part of the mat looks like it represents water, and it
even has fishes that start there, there is nothing in the rules or
missions that says anything about the water part of the mat.

From Rule 2, Interpretation, bullets 2 and 3:
-- Do not interpret text based on .... how a situation might be in “real life.”
-- If a detail isn’t mentioned, then it doesn’t matter.

It's okay if your team doesn't know how to teach a robot to travel in
water.  For purposes of the game, that area is just colors on the game
field.

2)  The FLL Robot Game traditionally has one mission area shared
between the two teams competing on the back-to-back tables at a
tournament.  Some years the activity is cooperative (i.e. both teams
try to do something and get the same score), and some years it is
competitive (i.e. one team's success in scoring might lead to the
other team not being able to score.)  This year the Pest Removal
mission is competitive--each rat can provide points for only one team.

This activity is covered in Rule 20, Interference
Bullet 1:  Your robot may not have any effect on the other team’s
robot, field, or strategy except near the model(s) shared
between both teams, where accidental interference is expected and acceptable.
Bullet 4:  As a matter of luck, the other team might out-perform you
in a competitive interactive mission, or might fail to
help you in a cooperative interactive mission. The net effect is the
same, and this is not considered interference.

So for rookie teams, the situation at a tournament is that there will
be two tables back-to-back on which two teams will play a match
simultaneously (Rule 6).  Each table will be a duplicate of the other,
and will match your team's practice setup--except that there will be
exactly two import-export stations and exactly two rats which are
shared between the tables.  Each team is free to try to take zero,
one, or two rats back to Base to score in accordance with the Pest
Removal mission.  It may be a matter of luck as to whether your team
tries to collect the rats after the other team has already taken them
or moved them.  This is all part of the game.

But don't worry--if your team plans to collect one or two rats, and
the other team gets there first.  Don't forget Rule 6, Bullet 7 [it's
a long rule!]:  You play at least three matches a tournament, each one
being a fresh chance for you to get your best score.

Each match is scored independently of all other matches, and only your
team's highest score is considered as the robot's performance score
for the tournament.

Steve Scherr
VA/DC FLL Referee Advisor

P.S.  Why do I repeat what other people are saying, and why do I quote
the game documents (Updates, Rulings, Missions, and Field Setup) all
the time?  Because the game documents are your team's friends--they
say what is allowed, what isn't allowed, what the goals  are for
earning points, and they give your team information they can use when
asking the referee for Benefit of the Doubt (Rule 25) at a tournament.

P.P.S.  There are new Updates this week--don't forget to check for
them at http://firstlegoleague.org/challenge/robotgameupdates

>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: First Lego League in Virginia and DC [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Rama Cheruvu
> Sent: Tuesday, September 20, 2011 9:43 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: [VADCFLL-L] Couple questions on the missions
>
> I am a rookie coach. I have couple questions regarding the missions. I
> appreciate your response.
>
> 1. Can the robot travel in the water? For the robot to reach the east wall, it
> would be much easier and faster to travel through the water.
> 2. In the competition, two tables are joined back to back and it seems my
> team will be at disdavnatge for Pest removal mission since the other team
> may have easy access to one of the rats from my team. Am I correct in my
> assumption? Please clarify.
>
>
> Thanks
>

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