[ManicMechanic]

There seems to be some frustration based on some teams not posting photos of their robots. There was a similar discussion on the FLL forum (if interested, I can e-mail you a copy if you PM me with your address). In summary, the consensus seemed to be that there is a wide range of gracious professional behavior, which spans from sharing complete photos & videos to sharing teasers to sharing nothing at all. While I certainly appreciate it when people do share photos, a team should feel the freedom not to if this is their preference, and a team should never be pressured to share, only later to wonder, "Would we have ranked higher against xxx if we hadn't posted?"

As a "lower end" team, it was easy for us to post photos because we knew that we had far more to gain than to lose. We had no illusions about the (un)likelihood of ranking in the top 8-15 (or of anyone "stealing" our designs), but thought we might stand a chance of being a second pick if we got on someone's radar. However, if we were a higher scoring team with a real shot at coming out closer to the top, we might have felt differently.

On the receiving end, I generally don't take a close-up shot (one designed to highlight a particular robot, as opposed to being caught in the background of a panorama) unless I get permission. I would NEVER post a close-up shot of someone else's robot without permission. When a team has worked as hard as most teams have on their bot, it seems that they have some ownership in an ethical sense, even if legally, they have forfeited these rights by showing it in public. The fact that many bots compete in multiple events complicates matters. I have no problems using a general idea (conveyor belt, grabbing strategy) seen an earlier tournament, but I would respect a team's request not to take or post photos in an attempt to replicate their design. Where is the line between "learning" and "cheating?" Probably "learning" if I benefit and "cheating" if the next guy does! Mainly, I would have to ask myself how I would feel if the positions were reversed. If our bot were copied, I suppose that if nothing illegal were done, I'd accept it, even if I didn't feel good about it.

Rules have to be made when consideration and consensus are insufficient, and it's my hope that GP will win the day in this one.