Disabling a robot

[StevenB]

I was scorekeeper in Arkansas, and disabled a handful of robots for bumper issues over the course of the weekend.

Originally Posted by dmaciel10123

The rule is in place to encourage teams to take care of their bumpers, and alliance members should be willing to help fix them if there is anything wrong.

The problem is that this rule hurts the teams that need the most help. I and my two siblings (all of us volunteers) spent several hours with a team on Thursday night helping them build legal bumpers so they could pass inspection and play on Friday. Unfortunately, their blue bumper covers weren't stuck on very well, and came part way off at some point, causing them to be disabled. The bumpers were still functionally intact, and there was no practical reason - safety, damage, or otherwise - to disable them.

The rule as I understand it is to penalize robots who lose a whole bumper segment, preventing them from leaving a large item on the field and continuing to mix it up with other robots. I see no reason to disable a robot because their cloth sags a little bit, and I hope this rule will change next year to reflect that. Making the penalties stricter will not help teams do better (G40, anyone?), it just punishes those who are already struggling.