[AmyPrib]

Well - I see the intent of "in the zone" to be safety, obvious-ness, and loading intent.

Has anyone suggested possibly making the 36" triangles a little bit larger on the field, so that it would help avoid the straddling concern, if they want to stick to "touching" the triangle? They made them a little larger for the HP side, why not make them a little larger for the field side? Is there any specific reason why 36" was chosen? Would it be a detrimental impact to the game and rules if they made it 40", or 42", or even 46"?

I have got to believe that they will eventually accept the "obvious straddling" position as "in the zone". But if you open it up to "just being in the 3d space above the triangle", then you could have your robot body anywhere within 6 feet away from the zone, with it's arm sticking out "in the 3d space". That's a safety concern, and it would be difficult to enforce a "no interference" rule with that because you don't have any fixed space for the robot to be in - your arm would just need to dangle over the triangle, and the refs couldn't really judge your intent of retrieving a tetra, or if you're just swinging the arm about.
And they want to try and enforce the "no interference", especially for safety. So there has to be SOME type of rule that states when you are in, and when you're not in, the zone. You have to have some "fixed" space that you can consider a no-interference zone.

My opinion, is that if they increased the size of that triangle zone a little bit, and they allow the obvious straddling position, then we might minimize some of the major concerns. Plus, making it bigger, you have less of a chance of actually straddling it. I'm guessing with the size of some robot arms, it will be difficult to get some portion of the robot "in the zone", in an obvious manner, before touching the tetra. Some robots will have their wheel touch the very tippy corner of the triangle, and the driver will be able to see that, but a ref or someone else not at the right angle won't. So they may get penalized "unjustly". If you allow a little more space (bigger triangle) to make it obvious, you increase the safety for everyone and help the refs out a little to make calls.
They're not going to make everyone happy, but I think with a few minor adjustments, it could alleviate a lot of the legitimate concerns/gripes people have.