[Ether]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Kevin,
We should keep in mind in your examples, practical implementations for weight and size which plays heavily on the actual advantage gained.

He was using hyperbole in those examples to make a point. He clearly stated that:

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

I'll admit up front that this is all going to be based off an extreme examples that have never and would never make it to the floor.

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Also it should be noted that the GDC did allow motors to be running throughout the match if a team wanted to use that approach. (Q&A 2/1/2011)

Kevin addressed the above point in his post:

G19 etc. state that the minibot must move up the pole with electric energy provided by the battery AFTER deployment. Deployment starts when the minibot crosses the cylinder. Ergo, any ramp system where the minibot starts a significant distance away from the cylinder is putting significant energy into the minibot system before deployment starts. It's kinetic energy stored in the inertia of the battery and frame,

Rule <G19> allows the minibot to store up kinetic energy in its spinning motors and wheels prior to start of deployment. That is a separate question from using those running motors to store up kinetic energy in the body of the minibot prior to start of deployment; a point which GDC did not clarify when asked, and which is at the heart of much of this discussion.