Yesterday, I witnessed a phenomena during a competition while acting as Head Referee. Now that students are allowed to tip the Launcher back to reload (), physics inevitably ran its natural course.
A drone approached a loaded Launcher. The downdraft tilted the seesaw down, prompting the balls to roll. The Visual Observer was not patient enough to wait the whole quarter-second needed for the balls to fully exit from the Launcher. Under the assumption they had waited long enough, they pulled back the seesaw just before the balls broke contact, effectively (and accidentally) launching the balls into an airborne projectile motion that increased the distance beyond what it may normally travel, allowing an advantage of closer proximity to the Outer Zone.
In this scenario, the Visual Observer still followed the same rules as described in TM3, including subsection f:
“The Launcher is activated by the downdraft or weight of the drone, which triggers the release of the Ball(s) into the field.”
Would this still be an illegal accidental violation of TM3, however, given that the Visual Observer’s physical strength of pushing the Launcher down is what propelled the balls to go further than normal?
And if so, should TM3c be amended to state that “No balls should be in contact with the Launcher when the Visual Observer tips the Launcher”?