[Rook]

I defended team 68 in the other thread, and I will do it here. There is no clear violation of the rules. I agree it is something that needs to be looked into by the judges. However, if the first in match it is decided that Team 68's arms are not illegal, then that ruling should apply for the entire competition.

Team 68's design is meant to contact the carpet and that is all. We all know that if a robot hits them, then the bar is going to back them up. It's the same thing though if one robot is trying to push a weaker robot out of the way. If the stronger robot backs the weaker one into the bar. The weaker robot isn't going to be DQ'd because their bot is taller than 14".

The game of Football is over 75 years and each year, they STILL argue over rules. A complicated game like FIRST is going to have these little gray areas. FIRST is especially vulnerable to this kind of thing because the game changes every year. As members of FIRST, we should expect that the officials will take every precaution so that there are no gray areas, but we also have to have a realistic and mature attitude about it.

FIRST is about pushing the envelope, and coming up with the best ideas and strategy to win. It's obvious that Team 68 put a lot of thought into this design, and I think they deserve to be allowed to use it.