[Mr. Freeman]

Alright, yes, teams could, in theory, go drive their robots on the road outside their building to scuff up the wheels and call it "normal wear and tear". It's up the every team to follow the rules, there's a million ways around this rule and none fall anywhere under "gracious professionalism".

That said, does scuffing up the wheels actually help anything? Assuming the competition floor is completley flat (no gouges, grooves, etc.) then there would be nothing for the scuffs on the wheel to interlock with. Thus, all that could possibly propel the robot would be frictional forces, which are surface area independent (i.e. roughing up the wheels won't help.) Am I missing something?