[David Brinza]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Nick,
Did you inform the LRI? They are the ones who can point out flaws and suggest ways/teams to modify. LRIs do not want any team to sit on the sidelines for any reason that can be helped.

Nick is referring to a team (who I won't identify) participating in the Las Vegas Regional. The inspectors (including the LRI) all tried to convince the team to change the drive system in order to come into compliance. Several teams (including ours) offered suggestions, spare parts, or whatever to try to help them. Even with the knowledge that their illegal robot would not be allowed on the field (and it wasn't), this team had voted to not change their "very cool" design and the mentor was not going to override their vote. This was very frustrating to inspectors and other teams alike, but it was their choice.

In spite of their robot not being on the field for their matches (i.e. human player only), they remained in first place until Sat morning. An inexperienced team actually picked them during alliance selections (because they were on top of the "available" list on the audience screen). As I recall, they were ultimately replaced by a back-up robot in the quarterfinal matches.