[EricH]

Originally Posted by BigWhiteYeti

I've only seen two robots with fans and both were pointed horizontal, so they add thrust but not traction. If I remember right, one of the updates had a clause outlawing "mass manipulation" to gain a traction advantage. I guess it is up to the inspector to judge whether a fan is mass manipulation.

On a separate note, why the heck to they have this rule in the first place? The possibility of increasing traction got our entire team talking physics forced everyone to come up with creative designs. Why limit creativity??

There's more than 2.

The mass manipulation was in the Q&A; a team asked if they could, say, move the orbit balls for the sole purpose of traction. Fans are NOT mass manipulation; they simply move air. As they are explicitly allowed by the Q&A (given a horizontal direction so as not to violate <R06>), then any team can use them.

Why the rule? Why which rule? <R06>? It's part of the game challenge. However, you can't add traction by altering the reaction with the ground under <R06>. There only remains the chance of adding a reaction with air to increase speed, acceleration, and/or pushing power. Fans provide that, and are legal.