Concerning Whistleblowing

[ChuckDickerson]

Originally Posted by sanddrag

At SoCal I was an inspector. I saw a team using the plastic gearbox parts from the 2003 (and 2004?) kit of parts. These parts were custom made for FIRST back then, were not manufactured by the team during the build season, and were not COTS parts available to everyone by a legitamate vendor. I didn't inspect this particular robot but I saw it while passing by. I didn't call them on it because it would have ruined their whole shooter if they had to remove those pieces. It wasn't giving them any unfair advantage or presenting any unsafe condition.

I beg to differ. FRC is not completely fair, it isn't meant to be, and it never will be, however, all teams are given the exact same rules, exact same KoP, and the exact same challenge in an effort to make things as fair as possible across all teams. For a team to knowingly or inadvertently use ANY part that violates the rules, in this case an illegal gearbox from 2004, definitely IS giving them and unfair advantage over all of the other teams who either followed the rules or are newer teams who didn't have the 2004 gearbox available to use. If a team isn't following the rules it is not only unfair to the other teams but it is doing the team breaking the rules a disservice. If the team is KNOWINGLY breaking the rules then the mentors are truly doing the students a disservice by allowing it to continue and therefor rewarding cheating. If a team doesn't know they are breaking the rules then, well, they should have read ALL of the rules more closely like all of the other teams did that aren't breaking the rules. Either way, it is the duty of everyone (students, mentors, and inspectors) to uphold the rules as best as they can. If a team is observed breaking the rules they should be politely informed and given the benefit of the doubt and allowed to correct the problem. If they refuse they should not be allowed to compete until the situation is resolved. In this case, the team that used the 2004 gearbox should have read the rules like the rest of the teams that followed them. The shooter was illegal and should have been removed if it couldn't be redesigned to not use the illegal gearbox.