[Libby K]

Originally Posted by Tanis

More or less this. Both the inspectors and the field staff really want to see your robot compete on the field. Sometimes this means overlooking a minor rule violation (maybe one of the numbers on your bumpers fell off) on the condition that you fix it in the near future.

I've also seen plenty of instances in which a team adds something to their robot (such as a frisbee blocker in 2013) during qualifications, and the refs aren't entirely sure if it is within the height regulations or not. If it is not an egregious violation and either it is early enough in the competition or the field is running significantly behind, they might let it slide for a round.

In this case, though - it's obvious that 'taller than 5 feet' isn't something to let slide. It's a significant part of even a preliminary inspection-- because otherwise they wouldn't fit on the field.