This gracious professionalism stuff is getting real
old. The idea is to win.. without cheating. Thats it.
Not everyone was meant to build a robot just like not
everyone is good at sports and not everyone is good at
math. Things should try and be kept fair, but its a
game guys. NOTHING can be kept ultimately fair. Say
Hockey... some guys are bigger.. they hit people...
thats their strength. Some guys are quick, thats their
advantage, its what they do. So every robot has their
advantage, which is fine. Let em use it. Robots
should be fair play, they're not coffee tables,
they're not made of glass. They're (probably) made of
metal or aluminum. That's not exactly a weak material.
If it gets hurts, the team should have done a better
job at protecting it and countering that stragety. I
mean, stick an RC out in the open in a robotics
competition, and you have to EXPECT it to get broken,
or stick an unreinforced arm out and not expect it to
be bent, thats just plain dumb. The only time people
complain about things is when its something they can't
beat, and then they look for technacalities that they
can use to their advantage. If everyone just followed
the rules and prepared for all (or most) of the
possible situations then it would be fine.
You don't want to be wedged up, be low to the ground.
You don't wanna be lifted up? Don't leave an exposed
surface grippable. Don't want to be pushed? Use strong
motors and good traction tread on ur wheels. Don't
want to lose? Then do your best and play the game as
it was intended, don't play it like a court case with
lawyers.
---I say use the wedge and use it proudly. If people complain that much about it, then it must mean that it is ahead of its time. When a good counter-stragety is formed, then people will stop talking about it because it will be beaten...
