[KenWittlief]

I think the only way this type of situation is going to be resolved is for FIRST to bite the bullet

acknowledge that FIRST HAS become a battlebots event to some extent

and to create reasonable rules to deal with it and make it fair

nobody can design a robot that can be hit or rammed on any square inch of its surface at any time with any given amount of force and not be toppled or damaged - every bot will have a soft spot somewhere

in sports where body contact does occur, there are rules - you cant punch a quarterback in the face and then say, 'Hey, whats the matter, if you cant take it you shouldnt be out here'

and even in boxing and martial arts sports, there are body parts that are off-limits

it would be very easy for FIRST to implement a bumper requirement, and then impose a penalty for any bot that hits, pushes or rams another bot outside its bumber zone (hitting above the belt :^)

but I think the problem is, FIRST is pretending its still 1998, when bots rarely ever touched each other - and expecting this problem to go away with a sprinkling of GP talk

its not going away - it needs to be dealt with headon.