Ruling on Robonauts Balance

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by pfreivald

They've been using "reasonably astute observer" definitions for years as a way to essentially say, "Look, folks, it's impossible to create a positivist document. Not difficult, not really hard, but actually impossible. So we're not going to try to do that. Be creative, but do so within the spirit of the competition-as-sport that we've set up."

The problem with falling back on "reasonably astute observers" is that, clearly, reasonably astute observers are going to disagree about things. It's a fine guideline for most cases and situations, but it's completely useless in these kinds situation. I mean, I hope we can agree that teams like 1967 and 118 are made up of reasonably astute people. These reasonably astute people are telling the GDC, "We think this is legal, but we thought we'd check with you. What do you think?" And then the GDC mumbles something, shrugs and wanders off. Exactly how are teams supposed to react to this kind of behavior?

One option is to move forward in good faith but with some trepidation that the the GDC will turn around and declare it illegal: "Didn't you hear us mumble that it wasn't legal?" Clearly 118 picked this path and I think they have some cause to be annoyed at the GDC for mumbling and equivocating during build season before finally making a decision over a month later.

I suppose your other option is to start assuming that a "reasonably astute observer" is actually a perverse killjoy that hates creativity and unexpected situations. So any time the GDC falls back to that excuse you just assume that your idea is illegal, but they don't want to outright TELL you so because, you know, that'd be all depressing and would make the GDC feel bad. This is certainly a safer position to take, but you have to admit it makes things a lot less interesting.