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Re: Appropriate penalties for off-the-field ethical/behavioral violations
A lot of these posts are focusing on rules that level the playing field, such as the amount of money spent on a robot, but don't forget the rules that address safety concerns, such as modifying certain parts. If FIRST says do not modify the thing-a-ma-bob and a team says but if I cut this away and play with this, the thing-a-ma-bob will be so much more powerful and faster so let's ignore that rule and they they do so, then they have just endangered not only themselves but others. The people who inspect the robots for safety do a great job but as humans they are fallible.
A team cheating may or may not hinder another team's learning, but I think FIRST would be less inspiring if cheating was treated as lightly as just deducting a few points. Heck, if the advantage was great enough, losing a few points or starting late wouldn't matter at all to the team that cheated. And a team cheating can have more consequences than placement. A team cheating could win awards it doesn't deserve along with scholarships that a team that didn't cheat could have won.
This past fall we had a little mini-bot competition (pieces of plywood with wheels, powered by drills). One of the objects in this game was to remove a soda can from a cinder block. Now, seeing as how the cinder block could damage things if it was knocked over, a rule was made stating that teams would lose points if they knocked the block over. One of the teams, mistakenly thinking I'm such a cool adult that I would find it funny, told me that they were planning on knocking the cinder block over anyhow, just to show how strong they could make their mini-bot. Personally, I think it would have been funny to see, but I really wanted the kids to get the idea that during the game, they couldn't bend or break the rules that way, so I conferred with some of the adults and we made a new rule up that stated that any team that intentionally knocked over the cinder block would have to clean up the meeting room by themselves for the rest of the pre-season meetings. Needless to say, the cinder block remained upright. If the penalty had been too harsh, such as scrubbing the entire shop down with toothbrushes, I have no doubt that block would have tumbled. So there's a good example of finding a penalty that was not too lenient and not too severe. If only FIRST's problems were this easy to solve...
I think everyone is doing a great job in this thread in pointing out the different sides. I think I've changed my mind quite a few times today because of the points made. Maybe I'm too cynical, but I've been amazed by the people who can't believe anyone in FIRST would cheat. I may not be an expert in human nature, but I have enough experience with different groups (girl scouts, little league, ice-skating, Relay for Life, etc.) to know that competition can bring out the worse in some people.
Heidi
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