[Mike Ciance]

i think it's wrong to have a concrete penalty for each type of illegal action. there are undeniably situations in which a rule is broken, but little or no penalty should be given, and some in which action should be taken. there are different degrees of breaking rules, and some situations which technically break rules, but clearly should be considered exceptions. even when action is taken, like dave said, this is a learning experience, we don't want a stupid penalty to hinder that. if a problem is fixed, i don't see the reason for serious action, unless there is a constant problem with a particular team.

as far as bringing pre-assembled parts to the competition, anyone can see that there is a wide range of how this can happen. a team would simply be bringing in a pre-assembled, slightly altered gearbox to replace an old one, or a team could bring in half a robot with totally different function. sometimes a needed custom part cannot be made with the equipment at a competition, and must be made on very heavy mechinery. i know many of our metal parts are custom-machined, and while we always have a few extra, i'm sure some teams make the mistake of not doing so.

as for illegal parts or functions, nobody should pretend this is a rarity. i have seen many robots in the past who used illegal techniques. some of these are unintentional and detected, and some are clearly intentional but excused. i have seen robots with parts specifically made to penetrate the ramp mesh (2003). i have seen wedge designs, clearly made for getting under other bots, but excused to the judges as ball/box plows. now on the other hand, i have seen several teams put zipties on their worn-down tires - an obvious rule-breaking to the veteran rule-knowers, but a common mistake among rookies. if this went by unnoticed a few times, and then an issue was brought up, should the team be disqualified? all their hard work for naught? absolutely not! the degree also needs to count in the severity of the penalty - there is a big difference between a hidden fuse and a hidden nuclear fission reactor.

these issues should clearly be judged by two factors: whether or not the break was intentional, and how much trouble the thing actually caused or potentially could cause. i have seen things that don't break any rules but are far more trouble than things that do. far too many teams have loose batteries that are exposed to impact. i have even seen batteries pulled out of robots, and i have even seen a couple just plain FALL out of robots. thats not good. FIRST spends too much time banning things that have a 0.01% chance of causing problems, when they are allowing things that have a 10% chance.

with that, i say that before we worry about how we should punish illegal things, we should worry about examining what we consider "illegal".