[Rick TYler]

Originally Posted by Billfred

I'm sure others will harp on the open-trailer-equals-death matter here, but I'm neutral about it. It's always been hard, sometimes nearly impossible, to win a round with a dead or missing robot; this year was just more pronounced.

So let's not ever have a missing robot on an alliance. By coincidence I was talking to an Old Respected mentor this last week on this very subject. Starting with his notion (I liberally borrow ideas but at least I don't steal them...):

1. In regionals, allow a "hot fix" robot to compete. This might be a team's second robot, or maybe just a team that likes a weird challenge. During qualifying, this robot fills in every time there is a no show. It isn't listed in the standings, but its won/loss record and other scores are recorded and made available during alliance selection. While the hot fix robot cannot be an alliance captain, it may be chosen for an eliminations alliance. During eliminations, the rules would work as they do today.

2. In invitational tournaments (like Championships), whatever means is used to pick a team off the waiting list is used to pick the hot fix robot for each division. Since this team may or may not get a chance to compete, they get the "Rudy Ruettiger" trophy and an automatic invitation to Championships for the following year. They are eligible for selection to an eliminations alliance just like in paragraph 1.

Something like that...