[jimfortytwo]

Regarding consequences, I would be in favor of simply trying to undo any advantage in future matches, and then ask the team to choose a representative to take up the mic and make a public apology. I feel like in this case, and in almost all cases, any "cheating" is accidental-- particularly with a rookie team.

In terms of legality, I'm still not clear on this one. Bluateam left the competitions site with a gearbox, and brought it to their hotel. They played with it at their hotel until they knew how to fix it, and then completely dismantled it. The next day, using what they learned, they put the whole thing back together in the pits and went to compete. What if they had taken apart the drive train into its component pieces before leaving the field? Would it be illegal for team X to bring a bunch of bolts, scrap, and PVC to their hotel room just to try to figure things out, and then assemble their actual device in the pits the next day?

And then what is the legality of fixing robot code at competition late into the night?