Backup Coupon Warning

[Gutherie88]

We, the Robostangs, write this heads up / warning to all teams for the 2016 season. Please note that this post is not intended to challenge the rulings of the referees; the rules of the game were correctly upheld at our event. We simply hope to bring this to everyone’s attention and raise the possibility of reevaluating the definition of an eligible backup robot.

As most of us know, this year's game is more strenuous on robots than ever before. It seemed like every other match had only two robots on an alliance because the third needed to sit out for repairs.

We were the captains of the fourth alliance at the week one FIM Southfield District event. After our first semifinal match, we had already burned through our timeout coupon. After our second quarterfinal match, we were forced to use our backup coupon on behalf of one of our alliance partners due to an extensive drivetrain issue. However, the next highest ranking robot not already on an alliance that was given to us as a backup was not functional. The officials then explained that there cannot be a backup-to-a-backup robot and we would need to accept the new team we had been given. Since we had already submitted the backup coupon, the switch was permanent. We ended up playing the rest of our elimination matches with two robots.

Our message to future alliance captains is to check ahead of time before using a backup coupon. Due to the nature of FIRST Stronghold, many robots may not last until the end of playoff matches. Be sure to carefully weigh your options before utilizing a backup coupon, since a half-functioning, repairable alliance partner may be of greater value than an inoperable backup team. We believe that to make playoffs more fair and give more teams the chance to participate, FIRST should consider reevaluating what qualifies a robot to be available as a backup.

-Team 548