<div dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><div>Hi teams,</div><div><br></div><div>just to make sure that everyone is aware: the new "Attacker Touches Robot In Opponent Defense Area" rule has some effects on the strategies that might not be obvious. Placing an attacking robot close to the opponent defense area is not a good idea any more since if the opponent defender is partially inside its own defense area and touches the attacker, it counts as a foul for the attacking team.</div><div><br></div><div>Best,</div><div>Christian<br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></div><br><div class="gmail_quote"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Mon, Jun 10, 2019 at 11:38 AM Christian Lobmeier <<a href="mailto:pardinensis@gmail.com" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer">pardinensis@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><div>Hi teams,</div><div><br></div><div>this year's RoboCup will be
played with an entirely new set of rules. We've got some very valuable
feedback from you that we incorporate to make the RoboCup games as
enjoyable as possible for everyone. We're aware that there's only 3
weeks left until the RoboCup begins, so we try to keep the impact on
strategies to a minimum. <br></div><div><br></div><div>The most significant change is about the pushing rule. There were two offenses that count as pushing:</div><div>1. pushing a defender inside its own defense area</div><div>2. pushing any robot for more than 0.2 meters</div><div>While
the AutoRefs are capable of detecting the first one reliably, there
have been a lot of false positives regarding the second offense.
Additionally, 0.2 meters are quite a lot and some unsporting actions
such as pushing a pass receiver away to spoil an otherwise successful
pass would not even count as a foul. Therefore, we decided that for this
year, the human referee will be in charge of calling pushing fouls
again. The new version of the rule requires exertion of force (which may
result in wheels slipping for example), and the 0.2 meter threshold is
removed.</div><div><br></div><div>The first form of pushing (inside the
defense area) will be merged with touching the keeper to the newly
created foul "Attacker Touches Robot In Opponent Defense Area". This
means that touching the keeper is now also a foul instead of a minor
offense, like all offenses that don't require ball possession. The
advantage rule applies here.<br></div><div><br></div><div>It was hard to
find the Ball Placement and the Shoot-Out sections in the rules when
printed on paper, because they were hidden in the "Special Command"
section and did not appear in the table of contents. Therefore, the Ball
Placement section is now one level higher and the Shoot-Out section is
now a separate chapter.</div><div><br></div><div>Some more corrections:</div><div>-
Communication between robot handlers and the game coordinator for robot
substitution intents is allowed (the rules have been contradictory
before)<br></div><div>- Ball Placement: the conditions for the ball position in which the
human ref has to place the ball have been phrased more clearly</div><div>-
Shoot-Out: the 10 second timer starts when the Normal Start command is
issued, not the Shoot-Out command (this has been a mistake)</div><div>- Shoot-Out: since chip kick goals are permitted there, the
definition of entering the goal during in Shoot-Out stage has been defined more precisely. It
now reads: "[A goal is valid if] the ball touches the inner surface of a
goal wall or the ground of the goal of the defending team"</div><div><br></div><div>Clarifications (without changes to the rules):</div><div>- Ball Placement Interference also applies to division B</div><div><br></div><div>Best,</div><div>Christian</div></div>
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