There was a relevant Q&A to the most recent rounds of questions...
Quote:
Q209 Q. Rule R79: "compressed air on the ROBOT must be provided by one and only one compressor." 1) We can only use one compressor at a time, but can swap out compressors (e.g. if the one we are using starts to overheat). 2) We can only use one compressor for an entire event. Which reading is correct?
A. Situation 1, but also consider T8 and T10.
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Quote:
T8
At the time of Inspection, the ROBOT must be presented with all MECHANISMS (including all COMPONENTS of each MECHANISM), configurations, and decorations that will be used on the ROBOT during the entire competition event. It is acceptable, however, for a ROBOT to play MATCHES with a subset of the MECHANISMS that were present during Inspection. Only MECHANISMS that were present during the Inspection may be added, removed or reconfigured between MATCHES. If MECHANISMS are changed between MATCHES, the reconfigured ROBOT must still meet all Inspection criteria.
T10
If a ROBOT is modified after it has passed Inspection, other than modifications described in T8, that ROBOT must be re-Inspected.
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My interpretation of this is that the GDC is saying that there is nothing inherently wrong with swapping out a compressor, but that doing so could be considered a modification and teams should check with an inspector when doing so. As Al can tell you, we've seen all sorts of things, and it's not uncommon for a team to leave a non-working part on the robot, even after the replacement is on (I've heard a story of a team having a half dozen burned out speed controllers on the robot... perfectly legal, but it's some awfully expensive ballast!). That's one reason why you should get reinspected... to make sure you didn't do anything accidentally that makes your robot illegal!
As Al indicated, there are numerous reasons we have these rules. R79 is really no different than R29 - one limits the number of compressors you can use with the robot, while R29 limits the number of motors. No one would argue that a team couldn't replace a burned out motor, and we shouldn't be trying to nit-pick R79 to death and say that we can't replace the compressor either.
The difference between the two is the way the items work - a motor creates mechanical energy from a supplied electrical source. Cut off the electricity, and the mechanical energy stops. A compressor, on the other hand, creates a reservoir of stored energy for later use - when you turn off a compressor, the energy is still stored for later use. The rules are simply controlling how energy flows within your machine - you can only use mechanical energy from a limited number of motors, and you can only use stored energy from a limited number of compressors (ie 1).