[MrForbes]

re: the force required to move the plate, vs. it's weight. If your minibot must lift the entire plate evenly, then it might take more than 4N to trigger the tower. If your robot contacts the plate on one side, then it only needs to lift that side of the plate. The plate should still rest on the two bolt heads on the other side of the pole. The force required to trigger the FMS should be significantly less than the full weight of the plate.

So Ether's math seems correct, but his lack of a free body diagram might lead one to an erroneous conclusion.

Interesting how so many people get upset about a game challenge that is not quite what they anticipated.