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From Raul: I am not offended by your questioning the legality of our robot last year - you have the right to do that if you are not familiar with the rules...
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I am sorry if my post sounded like I was accusing your team of cheating last year, or of using an illegal robot.
that was not my intention or question. I read the rule from last year and took it the other way - what Im trying to ask (or understand) is how did you clarify the rule, or did you think you needed to?
1. did you think the rule was clear enough as you understood it, and no clarification was needed?
2. did you ask FIRST about it? was there a team update that made it clear?
3. did you wait and ask the judges about it? or did you assume your multiple attachments were ok and simple have your bot weighed more than once?
we only have a few mentors on our team, and we dont have time to pour over every rule - so we probabally miss several things - which could be missed opportunities.
I know some teams delibrately WONT ask FIRST during the build season, cause they dont want to give their idea away. Some teams have been burned by this when the issue came up later, and part of their bot was not acceptable.
Personally I like the modular idea - in the playoffs the game will probabally become more aggressive - it might come down to one or two critial functions (like hanging or dislodging the 2x ball) - and it is worth considering what you can leave off you bot for those matches when you have an excellent alliance that augments your functions with others.
Another thing I have learned over the years - teams often modify their bots a little here and there during the events, after they have been inspected. Is this bending the rules? I think if you have your bot re-inspected after the mods were made, its ok (or if you only make a minor change)
but if you add a new function that wasnt there when the bot was inspected on thursday, you are using a new subsystem that you didnt have before - I think this is okay too (as long as the bot changes are inspected) - most of the magic and excitment at an event happens in the pits, not on the field
Sorry if Im rambling here - I think its important that teams understand what they are allowed to do, and whats prohibited. It sounds like our team missed out last year on the opportunity for switchable subsystems.