Rules that I think should be changed.

[Tom Line]

I don't mean to be emotional here, but this stems from several events that happened at a recent competition we were in. There is a very, VERY good reason that robots ARE NOT ALLOWED to beat on robots that are trying to lift.

Have you ever seen a 150 pound robot fall 4 feet to the ground? It really doesn't matter how strong you make your bot - all that weight is guaranteed to destroy things. Two bots at the competition decided to blatently ignore the rules about contact while lifting, and took a run at us. One smashed into us over and over as we lifted, causing considerable damage (and no small amount of ill will because it appeared that they were actively trying to damage us).

We just spent 2 months of our life devoting every waking minute to building a robot that works well. Allowing another bot to dismantle it by knocking folks off the tower would be... well... just plain silly. Plus, there's absolutely NO way to make a bot that isn't going to be damaged by a fall from 4, 6, or even 8 feet.

Hanging's hard enough already, isn't it?