[inquiryteacher]

Definitely Yes.

In the regional we just competed in the number of fouls was ridiculous and decided the outcome of many of the matches. Students from many teams where disgusted, disheartened, and discouraged. They were not really judged for their design or performance excellence, but more often for incidental or inconsequential fouls.

This year was a cleverly designed contest as it allowed for the inclusion of even the most inexperienced teams in game play. Teams without the skills or resources to build complicated apparatus are able to compete and even complete important scores to quickly complete cycles. But the amount and severity of the fouls is significantly disproportionate. Some of the fouls are very difficult to call an some are quite subjective. Adult delays after scoring (relighting the pedestal) caused more the one speedy youngster and alliance team to suffer. Incidentally, the students got to enjoy double jeopardy (two fouls - one offense) as the balls were almost immediately back in play giving them little time to realize their mistake and sealing the fate of the match.

The same teams who were cleverly included this year are also the most at risk. The simple apparatus necessary to compete often lack the sophistication to quickly be moved out of harms way. Asking for students to design a bot with allowances for a 20 inch overhang, and then repeatedly dinging them for contact within the perimeter of another bot is a design flaw in the contest. This type of contact should have been expected without the addition of any safe zones and bots should be designed sturdily, to withstand the rigors of the contest.

While there naturally should be some sort of penalty associated, We will likely see teams exploiting this flaw to gain foul points as the weeks go by, as I believe I have already witnessed a few times. It will decide contests and it is simply to easy for them not to.

This contest design flaw will likely influence design and creativity next year, as students will be asked to design around not fouling, instead of letting their more ingenious designs come to light. Interestingly enough, our team was chosen as an alliance partner in the finals, not due to our stellar performance in the regional, but simply because with a few modifications, it made it almost impossible to foul.