[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

... Apparently the GDC considers a robot to consist of a drivebase plus other mechanisms. Unless they change their mind, I expect something to that effect to appear in the manual for next year's game.

Originally Posted by squirrel

... Yes, that seems to be what they meant when they defined a FIRST robot as a remotely operated vehicle designed to perform specific tasks, in 8.1.1.

Originally Posted by 2008 FRC Manual, Section 8.1.4 Conventions

Key words that have a particular meaning within the context of the 2008 FIRST Robotics Competition are defined in sections 6, 7.2 and 8.2, and indicated in ALL CAPITAL letters throughout this text.

Originally Posted by 2008 FRC Manual, Section 7.2

...ROBOT: Anything that has passed ROBOT inspection that a TEAM places on the TRACK prior to the start of a MATCH.

As squirrel correctly points out, Section 8.1.1 says that a FIRST robot [note: lower case] is a remotely operated vehicle designed to perform specific tasks. However, per the convention provided in Section 8.1.4, that statement is not a definition. A FIRST ROBOT [note: capitalized] is defined in Section 7.2. The distinction is, of course, lawyerish.

Done correctly, lawyering can be gracious and professional. At its best the legal profession is about gracious resolution of disputes. At its worst, it encourages disputes by rewarding people who win them.

Of course it is equally true that engineering can be practiced ungraciously and unprofessionally. I'm disappointed when someone uses either 'engineer' or 'lawyer' as a perjorative label.