Emergency Stop still needed in its current form?

[g3force]

There is an "emergency stop" button on the remote-control, that allows to stop the game after 10 seconds.

I'm not aware that any team ever used that button since it was introduced. If it is not needed, we could remove it and make more space for other buttons on the remote-control.

[C-Takanashi]

I would like to present my opinion as just one of the members of KIKS.

There are two possible reasons why EMERGENCY STOP is not used at all.

(i)The length of time between the flag activation and the game stop is too long.
In Division A, 10 seconds is a very long in-play time considering the speed of the game. In RoboCup 2024, two software crashes occurred in the Tigers vs. RoboDragons match. Both of those goals were scored within 10 seconds of the software crash. (links below)

First crash (8 seconds including free kick waiting time).
https://www.youtube.com/live/4dcxjemDOS8?si=JjdyF6FEDncrws6x&t=30354
Second crash (4 seconds).
https://www.youtube.com/live/4dcxjemDOS8?si=7oqaYzLy7M1sYJWI&t=30964

In addition, in Division B, the percentage of in-play time in the total game time is small, and when a fatal error occurs, the transition to a timeout due to a simple timeout request is likely to result in a timeout.

(ii) The cost consumed by the team when a flag goes into effect is too strict.

When a robot is fatally self-destructing, as described in the case study, and when there are a small number of robots that are clearly at risk, it is better to activate the Robot Substitution Request and wait until it is not in play, which consumes fewer timeouts, and even if the software crash occurs, sending a timeout request allows the software to be restarted without getting a yellow card.

In light with the above, I think that the aspect regarding Emergency Stop should be more as a remedy plan for robots that are out of control due to software crashes or communication errors. In cases where the robot is fatally self-destructing, the Robot Substitution would do its part.

For the specific changes, it depends on the thoughts of TC's and OC's on software crashes. I personally think the time to stop needs to be reduced.

For remote controllers, I think the alignment could be changed to make room for other buttons. For example, making the less used buttons smaller.

[g3force]

Thx for sharing your thoughts. We'll take these into account for next years rule updates and the discussions during this years Open SSL meeting at RoboCup.