Einstein?

[Karthik]

Originally Posted by eugenebrooks

A robot with an arm ripped off is not inoperable, it can still play
defense.

...

If your robot could not roll around on the carpet, I would call it inoperable.

You pick your alliance, and you play your elimination matches. If a robot is inoperable, it is quite obvious to everyone.

Eugene,

Are you saying that an alliance should not be allowed to replace a robot with a broken arm? That for an alliance to be allowed to make a replacement the robot must be 100% immobile? Isn't this a bit excessive. Since the backup rule was put into place in 2005, I've seen many teams be replaced for reasons far less than complete immobility.

Now, I can definitely agree that 494's attempt to replace 997 falls into a gray area, but I think forcing teams to play with a robot until it's completely "dead" is going too far.

Then again, the rule does say "inoperable". As you described, that wording is pretty clear.