Quote:
Originally posted by collin234
it was an obvious rule violation, but nobody stopped it.
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I'm sure some will disagree with me and say you should mind your own business, but it sounds like cheating is a problem in FIRST. Instead of ignoring it we should try to eliminate it. I believe you have two choices in that situation.
First and most desirable is to get a leader from your team to talk to a leader from the other team about the possible rules violation. Don't go there yourself and flat out accuse them of cheating, that will only get the other team defensive and lead to an argument. Approach them and ask about the part in question. Bring a rule book if necessary.
If for some reason that fails, find an inspector or ref and tell them about the team in question (fyi the judges are the people that determine awards and have no bearing on the rules while inspectors inspect robots and have nothing to do with awards; I constantly hear people misuse the titles and ask questions to the wrong people). I was an inspector in LA and I know all of us wanted to enforce the rules, but we probably missed some stuff. All the real experts on the competition rules (the students) could help us by pointing out rules violations that they notice on Friday or Saturday.
I think spot checks should be implemented in order to eliminate cheating. That type of behavior has no place in FIRST. I think completely reinspecting each bot on Friday or Saturday is too much work for the current number of inspectors. Instead FIRST should have random inspections throughout Friday & Saturday and mandatory inspections for all teams in the elims, plus inspections if a rules violation is brought to the attention of the refs or inspectors. That should help keep people honest and catch those who choose to be dishonest.
Mike