[EricH]

Nope, not quite.

Minibots are to use only the power in the battery, delivered through the motors. Springs (for traveling along the pole) would be considered illegal, for example--though certain types of springy material could be used for latches. So the downward portion would be illegal--gravitational potential energy is not listed as a legal minibot upwards power source (though it's the primary method for getting down).

With respect to the second part of your argument (upward ramps), there are actually 2 holes. The first is that ramps were considered legal at multiple events. Translation: either multiple inspection and ref crews really screwed up, or there's a legal way to do it.

The second is this: Power for vertical motion only comes from that battery, through those motors. The fact that it starts out horizontal does nothing to the motors providing all of the vertical motion. Somehow, that horizontal motion gets converted to vertical--in this case, by a stationary part of the hostbot that the minibot runs on.

In other words, it's precisely because the minibot is supplying all of the energy that the upward ramps are legal, and because it is not supplying all of the energy that the downward ramps are illegal.