[EricH]

Originally Posted by CaptainJack

This rule says nothing about normal force, gravity, or anything like that. The only time normal force was mentioned (at least so far and to my knowledge) was on Bill's blog. He discouraged teams from making devices specifically designed for increasing normal force. I'm sure the GDC is reasonable enough to realise that increasing normal force may be a byproduct of certain robot actions and thus would not outlaw them.

Correct. People have asked using the term, but the GDC uses terms like "increased traction". The rule is NOT "you can't increase your normal force", but "you can't increase your traction". Devices specifically intended for that purpose have all been outlawed already. Devices that help accomplish a game objective (namely scoring) are apparently not an issue.

Even non-tractive wheels (i.e. within a small percentage of the rover wheels) are allowed for purposes of data gathering only.