Is this legal

[Joe Ross]

I'd think it would look funny on their BOM.

"1 barbell $50"

;-)

[Simon Strauss]

my impression of this is that even though it is not a custom made part it would still be forbode due to rule <29> which allows for only 25lbs worth of additional parts to be brought to events by teams as upgrades for their robot.

[TF8]

As an inspector at a few regionals I'm going to have to agree with IndySam on this one. The team must comply with the multiple mechanisms weight ruling. I personally would not let it go unless the base plus shooter plus new defense weights did not weigh more than 120 pounds together. This is obviously a secodary strategy based on their past experience. This one should not have made it past the inspectors.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by TF8

As an inspector at a few regionals I'm going to have to agree with IndySam on this one. The team must comply with the multiple mechanisms weight ruling. I personally would not let it go unless the base plus shooter plus new defense weights did not weigh more than 120 pounds together. This is obviously a secodary strategy based on their past experience. This one should not have made it past the inspectors.

There is no rule about a team altering their design at an event, provided that the change is permanent(for the regional, at least)or that all configurations weigh less than 120 pounds. If they completely scrapped their shooter, they are legal. If it would take them 3 hours or so to change back, I'd say it's borderline. But from what I can tell, it's legal. I'm sure the inspectors at the event thought about this one, and, since they passed it, I'll go with their ruling, not second-guess it.

[Cory]

Originally Posted by IndySam

But if they had a shooter before wouldn't this be a secondary mode/accessory that would have to be weighed with the previous shooter mode/accessory?

The only reason they would have to do what you've described would be if they wanted to selectively swap out their shooter for their defensive setup. If they permanently (for that regional) hack off their shooter, and put dead weight on, they don't have to weigh in with all the old components as well.