I am aware of the rule (9.3.6 quoted by Rich) that gives a no show team a 0 QP penalty in a winning situation. However, in a losing situation, everybody gets a 0 QP on the alliance. Where is the penalty for the no show team? Perhaps they should have a -1 QP in this instance.
Also why should a human player count as a team being present since this is a robotic competion? In most cases, this will still be a loss for the short handed alliance. Where is the penalty for them having no show robot?
In both no show cases, the robot was capable of running but it could work at less than 100%.
A wounded soldier is better than no soldier on the battlefield. Both times they chose not to come to the match and they chose not tell anyone about their situation/decision. We have helped teams numerous times with parts or manpower whether they were with us or against us in the competition.
We always check on our alliance partners before a match because they might need assistance. In all cases we were told that either nothing was wrong or no help was needed. Again, two teams of hard working kids get a penalty because of a 3rd team's lack of gracious professionalism.
