We really appreciate that the competition is completely managed by
volunteers and they are all trying to do their best. We have also conducted
competitions and know how difficult it can be. So I always prepare my team
to expect some of these issues to occur. My team was also affected by this
interpretation of the ruling. Another issue to watch out is the alignment
of the mat to the South Wall. Two of our missions depended on that
alignment to "Wall Follow". My team knew to look out for the gap and point
it to the referee. Unfortunately, the table referee said that they could
not do anything as the mat was taped down. I am not sure what guidance to
give my team in terms of how much to pursue this, without risking the
team's chances, before moving on. Would like to hear from others.

-Dinesh


On Sat, Nov 10, 2018 at 7:21 PM VA-DC FLL Referee Advisor <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

> I regret to say that what Jennifer describes may have been an incorrect
> ruling on the Craters Crossing Mission.  The Crossing Equipment for M04 may
> be any item of team Equipment, and does not have to include the Robot.
>
> I understand that there was a lack of clarity of exactly what was included
> in "crossing equipment" until update U06 came out this week.  Actually,
> there was a team last weekend whose crossing attempt I did not allow, but
> would have allowed this weekend after the update, and many teams at today's
> tournament that would have had trouble convincing me last weekend that they
> had an appropriate interpretation.
>
> The referee might have thought that since the Robot caused the projectile
> to move, and might have been over the Craters or even between the Towers
> when it was released, that the Robot needed to be included as part of the
> crossing equipment.  Depending on the position of the Robot, that's what I
> would have said previously.  U06 says explicitly that "It does not matter
> if a separate object throws, pulls, pushes, carries, places, or paves the
> way for the actual crossing equipment, as that would be a separate object
> and not considered part of the crossing equipment."  For example, a Robot
> that throws a projectile across the Gate would not be a part of the
> Crossing Equipment.
>
> The best thing that your teams can do is to be able to point out the exact
> text in the Updates, Missions, or Rules that show why they have the
> interpretation that they do.  That's how they might be able to change the
> Referee's mind, or get Benefit of the Doubt applied.  They may not be
> successful, but they will have done everything that they can to support
> their interpretation.
>
> Steve Scherr
> Virginia-DC FLL Referee Advisor
>
>
>
> On Sat, Nov 10, 2018 at 5:58 PM Jennifer Koehler <
> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
>> I would like to get clarification on crater (i know for the thousandth
>> time). This won't help my team because we are done, but it might help teams
>> competing tomorrow or next weekend.
>>
>> It was our understanding that we could send a projectile across the
>> crater.  As long as the robot was not touching the projectile, and the
>> projectile complete crosses over the crater, this is legal.  We were told
>> today that the ENTIRE ROBOT had to cross the crater.  The kids made a
>> simple wheel thing that sat on an attachment (not attached...just
>> carried).  They drove to crater, dropped the wheeled system and pushed it.
>> It traveled independently across the crater.  No attachment is touching the
>> wheel system as it rides across the crater. We were told by head judge this
>> did not count.
>>
>> Anyone? 6 teams in our competition could not run this mission because
>> they had similar to above.  We still feel we are correct in our strategy.
>>
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