Cheesecake robot. How far is too far?

[BobbyVanNess]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

Not sure why it's still being ignored, but dtengineering already explained why an 100% "cheesecaked" robot is illegal.

While that could be circumvented by having the receiving team involved in the production, 5.5.2 states that:

Each registered FIRST Robotics Competition team may enter only one (1) ROBOT (or ‘Robot’, which to a
reasonably astute observer, is a Robot built to play FIRST STRONGHOLD) into the 2016 FIRST Robotics
Competition.

Now if the one robot entered is significantly modified instead of replaced, that would likely satisfy this.

As for the ethical side of this argument, I think it stands that this should be agreed upon BEFORE alliance selections. If this isn't agreed upon with the alliance captain and leadership of the team being selected, then it's the picked team's call as to whether or not they alter their robot.

That being said, I don't think it's unreasonable to request this of a team if it's for the better of the alliance. If this is something that could lead to an event win, then I personally think it'd be a bit foolish for a team to refuse to consider the potential gains. It is, however, unacceptable to EXPECT this of a team.

Personally, I'd rather have the blue banner with a modified/altered robot and intelligent alliance strategy than go home empty handed because I let pride trump logic.