FROM THE HEAD REFEREES

Before ILTs pick up, this is a quick reminder from your referee team that a few structural rules have changed this year. Notably, here’s three notes that will be covered at your Driver’s Meeting that could be a bit of a surprise.

**Stop Gameplay at Start of Buzzer**

Teams are expected to make an effort to stop controlling the Robot when the timer hits 0:00, at the start of the buzzer. Actively playing the game during the buzzer causes a G406 Foul. For example, if a drive team hears the start of the buzzer, and reacts by driving into the Observation Zone, they would receive a Foul for controlling the Robot after the period, and it would be a Major because the control resulted in parking points. This is a significant difference from last year, where we told drivers to play until the end of the buzzer.

**Excessive Control**

If a Robot controls 3 or more elements at a time in a Match, or if a Robot controls 2 elements at a time, three or more times in a Match, a Yellow Card is given in addition to the standard Fouls.

**Movement during Auto->Teleop Transition**

If your Robot moves at all during the 8-second period where drivers are picking up their controllers, it is a Major Foul. This includes servo twitches. If your code twitches your motors when it is initialized, do not initialize it until after Teleop has begun.