The Field Setup Guide only permits (optional) tape at the east and west sides of the mat. Not all tournaments use tape. I like to tape the mats at the tournaments that I attend, but the mats over the last couple of years have not stood up well to having tape put on them, so I don't always do it any more.
I am surprised that you aren't seeing a vertical tower, but I haven't seen a setup on a full table yet, or one that's had a lot of use.
I assume that the "space travel ramp tower" is the dark gray tower with the orange section on top that has the Vehicle Payload pre-loaded on it. There could be tape on the west edge of the mat nearby. If we do see a lot of tilting, then I'll plan to recommend it to all Virginia-DC tournaments.
If the tower is the white Solar Panel support tower, then no, teams should not expect to the mat taped down nearby. The same goes for the Strength Exercise machine. The Robot will need to deal with a Mat that is not taped down nearby.
Steve Scherr
Virginia-DC FLL Referee Advisor
Can anyone tell us if teams will be able to rely on the mat around the M01 mission space travel ramp tower being taped down to the table surface? Without it being taped down, it's vertical position is far too variable to be in a predictable position (not always vertical) and thus.. much more difficult than normal to hit every time reliably. Even if you use optical sensors to tag the distance to the ramp.
I want to tape down the mat in that area to make the tower more stable and give the team a more reliable experience to code and build for.. but don't want to do so if that's not going to be a guarantee at the competition.
VA-DC HQ?
Tweeks
Coach of Fire Breathing Rubber Duckies, Div-1 team