[Ianworld]

The issue I always had with wedges was that they enabled any robot to be a very, very, very effective defensive bot with possibly destructive consequences. A robot with a wedge that was fast but not necessairly strong was just as effective as one that was slow and strong. The fast robot needed only to build up some speed(not tons mind you, just a 5 foot start would be enough) to throughly wedge under an opposing robot. Last year the only time my team's robot, which had a very low center of gravity was tipped was when a wedged robot rammed it. I respected wedge use on robots such as wildstangs last year where they were obviously built for a specific reason and used purely in a defensive manner. However a defensive wedge or not, it was becoming hazardous for a robot to even try to play defense on wedged robot, due to the issue with just being attacked and tipped on the way to the wedged robots goal. So while I dislike the fact that there is another constraint on the robots I do acknowlege it as a major issue.

Just to show how a wedge bot would be effective in this game. A robot with a wedge at the top of the ramp, would be able to get under absoluetly any robot as it comes over the ledge, pick them up and tip them over. The bumpers in this case guarantee hits above the drivertrain of the robot(and much closer to a robot's CG) Another situation is on the transition between periods. A robot with wedges on the side would be able to effectively stop a robot from passing it. Just by driving back and forth across the field, as long as they were about the same speed as the robot they were blocking they would be able to easily stop them.

Just my take. I'll miss the option of having them, but I won't miss getting tipped over by a wedged robot at all.