My team has completed seasons with and without a practice robot. Yes there is nothing in the rules about not having one. Yes, it is an ethical dilema that all teams have to face. But if you can look past the ethical roadblock for a second and weigh the advantages and disadvantages, things become a bit clearer. I remember in 2007 when my team had this exact same debate. It was hard for some to see past the ethics, I was one of those people. Due to this some asked others to weigh the advantages and disadvantages, then if it is close add the ethics in. In the end we went with the practice bot for a few years, those were our best seasons. (This past year due to resources we did not, and regreted the decision.) Not only did the inexperianced members have more time on the robot, but it gave the advanced members an opertunity to teach and see how far they have come. Not only did we inspire the new team members, but allowed the old to recignize their own engineering expertise.
Obviously I'm skewed towards the practice bot idea, but notice there was no attack. I have been attacked myself on CD and view it as a hostile place. I think some FIRSTers need to ask themselves "Am I acting like my grandmother is watching?" If the answer is no, then why are you posting in a FIRST forum? (I'm fully aware this is an unofficial forum
) Just some food for thought, that I expect will affect my green dots.