The 2015 Trash Trek challenge has been released. If you have any questions on the game missions, rules, or setup, please email them to Brian Gravelle (Head Referee Illinois). He will be replying to all emails and posting significant questions and answers below. The items posted below will be enforced by the Illinois Referees this year, so make sure you are aware of the rulings.
Please include the following in your emails:
1. We aren't clear from the rules how you are allowed to get the yellow and blue bars into bins.
First, M04 says “Method Constraint: Bars must only enter Green Bins directly from the Sorter’s east chute or CAREERS BONUS…”. Does that constraint only refer to the bars already in the sorter?
This applies to all bars on the table, including the ones in base and that come from knocking down the building. Basically you must attempt to get them sorted into the correct bins via the sorter, if the sorter mis-sorts and you have a person by the sorter it can be manually corrected.
2. Rule R010 says "If something on the Field is not completely in Safety, you are not allowed to touch it except as specifically described in a Mission, Rule, or Update.", which we interpret to mean that it's OK to handle bins and bars, etc. if the robot brings them to safety. If that's true, can we bring the bins and the bars to safety, then load the bars manually into the bins? That might be prohibited by M04, but it's not 100% clear. Alternately, can we bring the bars to safety, pick them up, and toss them in the sorter? The video indicates you can add yellow bars to the sorter, but we're not 100% clear on what you're allowed to do with items in safety.
Mission 4 has a method constraint that only lets bars enter the bins from the Chute or Careers bonus. This trumps (is more important than) any normal rules (see GP5 Info Precedence). Bins & Bars may come to Safety, but you may not add additional bars to the bins and have them score. You can load the bins (with sorted bars) on your robot in safety. The bins must then move to a scoring location.
