Appropriate penalties for off-the-field ethical/behavioral violations

[Mike Ciance]

Originally Posted by phrontist

Violation of rules should be punished swiftly with immediate expulsion from whatever competition it occurred at for it's duration. Every round that a cheating team competes in is illegitimate, and deprives all involved parties of an accurate comparison of robots. No one would get caught if they knew the consequences, and if no one gets caught, everyone except the cheater goes home happy. Which is, of course, the desired outcome.

That being said, the rules should be extremely clear, with no room for interpretation. The must also be justifiable as rules that maintain either "Saftey" or "A Level Playing Field." If rules don't immedeatly make sense to competitors, they are more likely to break them.

it's a proven principle that strict rule encourages rebellion. if FIRST is reasonable people will obey the rules out of morals, not fear