Rule <R08>, weight of upgrade parts

[Gary Dillard]

<R08> The maximum allowed weight of all robot configuration mechanisms combined, not including an Exide battery and its associated half of the Anderson cable quick connect/disconnect pair is 120 pounds (54.43 kg). At the time of weigh in, the basic robot structure and all elements of all additional mechanisms that might be used in different configurations of the robot must be weighed together. ....

Example 1) So, team SPAM comes to yet another competition with only half of their robot functional, and they weigh in at their standard 119.75 pounds. Through the practice rounds they decide that their 5 story megalift will never work, so they build from scratch in the pits an antigravity lift that seems to work OK, and between qualifying rounds 3&4 they remove the megalift, install the antigravity lift and get reweighed at 119.5 pounds. The lifts themselves weigh 20 pounds and 19.75 pounds respectively.

Question: Is this OK per rule <R08>, provided that they never put the megalift on again? The robot wasn't designed for interchangability, but they interchanged parts.

Example 2) Same as example 1, except the antigravity lift proves to be worse than the megalift so between qualifying rounds 5 & 6 they change back to the original configuration.

Question: Is this OK, - can we rely on gracious professionalism that the interchangability rule isn't being abused?

Example 3) The megalift only needs some tweaking, so they try replacing a steel widget with an aluminum widget between matches 3&4, then try a PVC widget between matches 4&5, then try a bronze widget between matches 5&6. All the upgrade widgets are built at the competition and weigh about 3 pounds.

Question: Is this OK?

I think if we weighed together all the stuff we built and tried and replaced throughout previous competitions we'd have a 500# robot.

[Cory]

I would say that's fine. I don't know how you'll be able to get an official ruling on that seeing as you're limited to 240 characters (or something like that), and FIRST seems to love being slightly ambiguous about answers.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the rule was made to make it as hard as possible for a team to build a modular robot, and what you're trying to do definitely isn't meant to be modular.

[Raul]

I think it is very simple; ask yourself this question:

Are you changing parts to make it easier to a adapt to a different partner, opponent, strategy or style of play? Are you switching back and forth?

If yes, then it is against the rules.

I do not see anything wrong with changing your mind on a design as long as it is done with the intention of continuously and permanently improving your robot.

Only GP and your own conscience can guide you on many of our rules. The no SW upgrades after the fix-it window and the 25lb limit on spares are just some obvious examples. No one is going to weigh the spares you bring or do an audit of your team to see if your SW has been upgraded at the wrong time.

My 2 cents.

[Katie Reynolds]

$0.02

If you go to the competition with plans to make a new lift (ie "OK guys, we're going to play the first few matches with module one on ... and if that doesn't work, I have the plans to build a second, different module on-site!") then it is against the rules.

If you get to the competition, play a few matches, decide "man, this isn't going to work at all - grab the 25 lbs of spares and let's see if we can jerry-rig something up!" then no, it's not against the rules.

[Joe Ross]

I think one of the important things is that you are being reinspected after each change. <R08> deals with configuration changes that occur without having to be reinspected.

[ttedrow]

At the 2004 Palmetto Regional, All the bots were weighed before each elimination round. There may be the same thing this year. Be prepared.

[JVGazeley]

A 3lbs wedge on a 119.75lb robot would push you over the 120lbs weight limit. From my point of interpretation, I think that does indeed break rule <R08>

£0.02