We spent a good chunk of Saturday abusing the an official FIRST disk. Driving over it, jumping on it, beating it, shooting it, etc. Upside down and rightside up. The rim deforms some quite quickly, but this was only ever easily visible by the discolored plastic due to the bending. More testing to do, but we haven't noticed any significant shot differences (granted, we're not chucking them 50ft) or even easily visible shape changes. Based on what I've seen so far, I'd consider the most likely changes to be:
- Surface changes. We haven't had any issues with this, but make sure your system isn't overly sensitive to scratches and "grime" (we had some 'burnt rubber' by the end).
- Point forces. We don't have anything like this, but if some robots end up with "pins" in positions that could stab the disks, it could yield greater deformation more quickly. Possibly punctures, but I suspect that'll be cause for replacement.
- Wall collisions. We haven't accurately tested what happens when you smash a flat disk into a guardrail (will it bend? "pop" up? etc)
- Rim Fatigue. Again, we didn't have problems with this in our shooter prototypes, but there is definite discoloration here, and it's possible there's a type that's sensitive to it.
I'm ready to drive a car over it based on your SUV results. Will update tonight.