I am dividing the issue of penalties into three categories:
1) Safety. These are non-negotiable, unless it can be shown that the penalties are not sufficient to prevent safety hazards. In that case, the penalties can be augmented (through physical changes to the field, or game play changes), or the penalties can be increased. G40 fits that description for me, and as such I am not in support of reducing it, ever. This year is particularly prone to violent play, and 140 lb. robots are never safe anyway.
2) Logistical challenges. These might be addressed in a number of ways, and as has been shown in the update last week (and numerous times in FRC history before), usually helps alleviate the bulk of the issues. Lexan shields on the bar, an additional ref, additional training for field personnel, software fixes, etc. These are completely legit to discuss and make suggestions, and the intelligent people in the GDC are likely coming up with solutions to these very problems almost as quickly as they occur.
3) Non-safety penalties. If matches are being swung by penalties that, in hindsight, are valued incorrectly (up or down), and they don't involve a potential safety hazard, then it is reasonable to suggest and implement fixes. It is not unfair to teams who competed in earlier weeks to make the game better for those who competed later. There is no possible way FIRST could beta test every level of gameplay enough to prevent some of the problems we've seen, and I'm sure they will continue to fine-tune or overhaul as necessary to make the game more fair and more enjoyable to watch and play.
But no hands anywhere near robots, ever.
