Let's say that the robot is the gear...

[Kartoffee]

Rule I04 states:

I04. ROPES have to be inspected. A Team must submit any ROPE they intend to use in a MATCH for Inspection. A ROPE must meet the following criteria (see Figure 9‑2 for letter references):

A. have a maximum width (W) of 1 in. (nominal) (e.g. exclusive of any knot widths)

B. be designed/configured to be at least 5 ft. 3 in. (~160 cm) long measured from the side of the ROPE’S retaining feature (per I04-E) that abuts the DAVIT fingers (L), to the farthest point on the ROPE from this feature.

C. be designed/configured to not exceed a length of 8 ft. (~244 cm) measured from the side of the ROPE’S retaining feature (per I04-E) that abuts the DAVIT fingers (L), to the farthest point on the ROPE from this feature.

D. consist entirely of flexible, non-metallic fibers sewn, twisted, tied, woven, or braided together except for the last 4 in. (~10 cm) of any cut end (E) which may be whipped (with material that is flexible and non-metallic) or fused only to prevent fraying.

Point C. requires that the rope must not be longer than 8 feet from the retaining feature to the longest point. This means that the maximum length for a rope would be about 8 feet, with knots. Could you have the rope extend into the airship, giving the pilot the ability to reach the rope?

With this question, could the pilot (or likely both) lift the rope up from the retaining feature? The idea being that you have a robot that can only grab the rope, then the pilots "lift" it, much like the lift "lifts" gears.

This is just my interpretation of the rules. I'd like to hear other's input on this before resorting to the Q&A.

[engunneer]

See team update 3. The pilot may not touch the rope once it extends below the floor of the airship. They absolutely can't touch the rope if a robot can also touch it.

[EricH]

And, just to put something else on that problem: SAFETY. Honestly, I really don't think it's possible to lift the robot via the Rope from that location without pulling a few back muscles...