I've been stewing on this for a while, so first I figure some questions should be asked. I came up with a few parameters for these solutions...
- No team will be banned from FIRST. Ever.
- The integrity of the competition will be kept.
- Every attempt should be made to make the team eligible for competition.
- Other than the team in question, no team should be affected.
- Whenever possible, use the problem as a teachable moment.
Then come the questions, and how to handle them:
For robot problems (costs, time, locations):
a) Can the team redo or reassemble it at the competition (thus making it legal)? If so, fix it. If not, go on.
b) Can anything be changed to bring the robot into compliance? If so, do it. Otherwise, move on.
c) If there is no way that the robot can be brought into compliance, is the robot otherwise legal to compete? If so (and nobody objects), let it onto the field, but disqualify it each match, and bar it from the finals. (This avoids giving the other alliance member(s) that team would compete with the short end of the stick, and it allows the team to at least have some measure of the experience). Otherwise, move on.
d) If the robot isn't otherwise legal, bring it into compliance. And if that
still gets you nowhere...
e) Start building from scratch. 1396's One-Day Wonder took ten hours.
For people problems (bad sportsmanship, sabotage, etc.):
a) Is it one or more people acting independently of the team, or the team?
For non-team units:
b) Prevent the person(s) from doing more harm.
c) Contact a teacher or other leader of the team, and make sure they know about it. Teams have handbooks, districts have behavior codes. I believe that 99% of the time, one will deal with the person(s). Assuming that everyone concerned is satisfied, move on.
d) If this person happens to be in that 1%, sit them in the stands and have a responsible adult keep an eye on them. They stay there except for food, bathroom, and going home/to the hotel.
For teams:
b) Can the problem be rectified? Fix it, with apologies.
c) Will allowing the team to continue to compete, even while disqualified, cause further harm to teams or other individuals? If not, let them keep going. If it will, read on.
d) If nothing can be done but bar the entire team from continuing, then bar them. Recruit teams to compete as placebos.
Note that I'm not going to comment on awards. These judges are smart people; they can tell whether a team is deserving or not of an award for whatever reason. I'll defer to them.