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VA-DC FLL Referee Advisor <[log in to unmask]>
Mon, 11 Nov 2019 00:45:21 -0500
text/plain (4 kB) , text/html (5 kB) , IMG_0676.jpg (84 kB)
Yes, Robot interactions at the top of the Bridge can definitely happen.
The mission description says: "Rule 31 allowance: It is okay and expected
for Robots to collide while trying to earn Flag points."
So it's okay if the second robot interacts with the first robot and causes
things to change.  This will not be treated as interference.

Here's a picture of two robots at the Manassas tournament on Saturday.  In
this case, the first robot held its position when the second robot
arrived.  Both robots ended up getting points for being up on the Bridge.

[image: IMG_0676.jpg]

A team might consider it bad luck to meet up with a team whose robot is
stronger than theirs or later than theirs on the Bridge mission.  It's
certainly possible that after a collision that neither Robot scores any of
the flags.  Luck can play a part; that's one reason that the team gets
three chances to run their robot and earn their highest score.

*My thoughts on Competitive Missions*
Recently some coaches were unhappy about the possibility of a collision
during a tournament match.  *FIRST* LEGO League always has a shared mission
that teams on opposite sides of the table can access.  Sometimes it is a
competitive mission, and sometimes it is a cooperative mission.  This year,
the Flag part of the Elevated Places mission is competitive; we don't
expect to see two Robots in a single match getting points for the same
Flag.

In last year's Into Orbit challenge, the shared mission was both
cooperative and competitive; the target for scoring would give both teams
points, but one team would get more points than the other.  During that
season, I saw several pairs of robots hit each other with an arm while
trying to work on the same mission model.  This wasn't a full-body
collision, but they definitely got in each other's way.  So
collisions/interactions are not a new thing.  The shared mission adds a
little bit of interest and sometimes fortuitousness to the game, and can
represent the influence of external events on our designs.

A top-level team might look at this as an engineering challenge.  For
example,

   - give their program the option for the Robot to go for the left, right
   or both flags, depending on what the other Robot has done.  Or, they might
   choose to go for neither of them and use the time that they would have used
   to score points elsewhere on the field.
   - make their Robot more difficult to move if another Robot encounters it
   - make their Robot stronger to move into position if another Robot
   blocks it
   - not all solutions need to be mechanical; the team could talk with
   their opposite team, and maybe plan a joint strategy with them, or just
   adapt their plan based on what they've learned.

I don't think that we'll see much robot damage caused by colliding
Mindstorms-based robots.  Especially since teams are usually trying to
construct durable, robust robots anyway.  But we know that FLL robots can
cause dual-lock to separate and pull mission models off the mat, so they
definitely do have some power.  Bottom line--as referees, we hope that the
teams find the shared mission to be Fun.  Teams will take pride in what
they have accomplished in the robot design, and also get to be in suspense
while they watch what the other robot will do. It is the Competition part
of Coopertition, and wanting both sides to do their best is the basis of
the Cooperation part.

Steve Scherr
Virginia-DC FLL Referee Advisor

On Sat, Nov 9, 2019 at 10:23 PM Shanti <
[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Yes.
>
> The team’s robot on the other side can move the first teams robot out of
> place on the bridge for claiming the flags.
> So at the end of 2:30 the 2nd team claimed the flags invalidating the
> first teams flag achievement.
> I’m a rookie coach so someone can validate my answer
>
> Shanti
>
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