[robocup-small] Rule changes for 2005

[Matthew McNaughton]

Sorry to have left Team Canuck's comments until the last minute.

On Fri, 12 Nov 2004, Sean Verret wrote:

> Change 1:
> 
> The dribbling distance will be set at 500mm for both active and passive
> dribblers.

We like Cornell's proposal to allow only horizontal active dribbling
surfaces.

I think the only undesirable effect that unrestricted dribbling has on the
game is "dribbling wars" where two opposing robots go head-to-head with
dribblers on full tilt. Being able to dribble down the field at high speed
is the prerogative of teams who have developed the control and it should
not be restricted.  So consider this: do not restrict the distance which a
robot can passively OR actively dribble a ball. Instead, prohibit the
robot from actively dribbling the ball when opposing robots are directly
in front. This will make it easy for the referee to enforce, it will allow
robots to dribble down open lanes without unrealistic restrictions on
distance, and it will not actually change the game much since open lanes
are hard to come by. There should be no restriction on passive
"dribbling".

We might agree with banning active dribblers but Team Canuck has some
interesting hardware, and we need our active dribbler in order to
kick. It's a long story.

> Change 2:
> 
> For all restarts where the ball has gone out of bounds and the rules
> state the ball is too be placed ON a boundary line or within 10cm of a
> boundary line, the ball will be instead moved towards the middle of the
> field to an imaginary line that is 10cm any of the boundary lines that
> the ball is within the 10cm wall.  Needs rewording but I think it makes
> sense.

Agreed. I think the problem of the ball going out too often is simply
intrinsic to the size of the field and there isn't much we can do about it
until we start playing on an even larger field. Cornell's proposal to
bring back the sloped walls also has merit.

> Change 3:
> 
> The referee box will send a neutral restart command 10 seconds after all
> restarts.

Agreed.

> Change 4:
> 
> No more bluetooth is allowed in the small-size league, and all other RF
> decisions will be left to the OC based on local conditions.

I understand that the reason for this change is that use of Bluetooth is
fraught with complications due to range and interference. This change is
to discourage new teams from shooting themselves in the foot with
unreliable radio technology. We have had some bad experience with radios
and we agree.

> Change 5:
> 
> Corner kicks will follow with change 3.

Agreed.

> Change 6:
> 
> The EC/OC/TC will decide upon ALL yellows, blues, greens, cyans, and
> pinks allowed to be used by robots before the competition and will make
> enough of these colors available at the competition for each team to
> field 6 robots.

The advantage of this change is that teams will only have to calibrate
their colors once. One disadvantage is that it may discourage worthwhile
research into vision techniques that require less calibration. However, I
understand that many teams are not really interested in vision research.
Another disadvantage is that some cameras may be unable to handle certain
color and lighting combinations. I think the TC should make the colors
available to teams a month before the competition. Otherwise Team Canuck
agrees, with some ambivalence.

The LED proposal from Vienna Cubes is interesting and would be easy to do.

> Change 7:
> 
> We will have 6 robots per team

Having six robots per team just increases our procurement and maintenance
nightmares and we would rather continue to play with five robots.
Regardless, we think that adding robots will exacerbate crowding issues
unless we have rules about how many offensive/defensive robots are allowed
in each half.

> Change 8:
> 
> The time of game will include 12 minute halfs, 5 minute half time
> breaks, each team retains its color for the duration of the match and
> colors are decided along with the referee 1 hour before the match.

Team Canuck disagrees with requiring teams to use the same color for the
entire match. This aspect of the rules should not be changed. Colors
should switch at half time if either team demands it.

> Change 9:
> 
> There will be no chip kicks allowed during any restart.  Chip kicks (of
> any height) will be allowed during all other situations.

Agreed.

-- 
Matthew McNaughton <mcnaught at cs.ualberta.ca>