I think that there are a lot of unknowns right now about what, exactly, is legal as far as MINIBOTs are concerned. “Climb”, “deploy”, and “autonomous” are all sufficiently ambiguous that there is a lot of outside the box thinking going on – some of which will be legal in the end, some of which won’t, and all of which is good stuff either way.
Well, keep in mind the material usage rules… Springs aren’t allowed, although elastic deformation is possible with other materials.
If you think you want to launch a minibot, PROTOTYPE IT. We did.
No really, try it. Then come back with the results. There’s way too much conjecture in this thread…
Sorry I don’t have the insides of the rule so can someone post them but check out rule g20
Has anybody else come to the conclusion that the mini-bot can be anything? I’ve read very carefully through the rules and theres no rule that says the mini-bot has to be deployed on the pole or at the tower. All it has to do is trigger the target. Other than obvious safety concerns, theres no rule that says we can’t just launch a tennis ball across the field and hit the target. The tennis ball would be the mini-bot. Well a tennis ball isn’t allowed i suppose by the mini-bot material rules. So how about throwing a FTC wheel up there? As long as it is a controlled toss it wouldn’t pose much of a safety hazard. And it fits all of the rule requirements.
The GDC has to put our some more rules concerning the mini-bot and I think they will. This also explains the mysterious missing section 3.4.14…
Something to think about.
There are too many unknowns on the MINIBOTs. I think they seriously need to define ‘climb’ and ‘deploy’.
I suspect that when all is said and done, the MINIBOT will have to maintain continuous contact with the tower on its way up (thus “climb” and not “jump”), and DEPLOYMENT that adds vertical kinetic energy to the MINIBOT will be disallowed…
I’m not positive, but that’s my suspicion.
Are you sure you read the rules carefully? I suggest you re-read rule <G20>.
Yeah I read that, but that says nothing about the mini-bots not being able to contact the tower above the deployment line. And as long as you propelled the mini-bot below the line, that satisfies rule <G20>.
The only thing right now that would support the minibot always having to stay on the pole is:
<G46> MINIBOTS may only be used to climb the TOWER.
Violation: YELLOW CARD
The reason i bring that rule up is because you’re not climbing the tower if you’re not touching it. So there’s no rule so far saying you can’t do that, but I can almost guarantee you that rule will be established (that you always have to stay in contact with it)
A motorized minibot is easy to come up with. What I’m having a difficult time coming up with are ideas for a spring powered one, maybe like a mousetrap car sort of thing but I’m not sure…
Here is <G20>
<G20> ROBOTS/HOSTBOTS may not contact their own TOWERS above the DEPLOYMENT LINE. Violation: PENALTY for contact. TOWER is disabled if MINIBOT is DEPLOYED above the DEPLOYMENT LINE.
When I saw the little guy on the game animation, I instiantly figured we could use Hexbug parts. I was thinking of how cool it would to have a modified Ant Hexbug race up the tower.
I personally think as of now with the current rules, launching a minibot up the tower, while it starts at the base is legal. I do not think firing the minibot across the field is however as I look at the definition of deployment and safety. Also to whoever said the tennis ball idea I’m 99% sure that wasn’t in the list of parts for the minibot.
parts list
just keep in mind everyone… It’s not going to take very much force at all to trigger the thing at the top so all the minibot has to do is reach the top before another does… Given that the bot has only 10 seconds to reach the top, at that velocity it will most definitely trigger. 
<G19> was reinstated that a host bat can’t launch the mini bot up the pole, or contribute to the vertical movement, and energy for vertical deployment cannot be stored in the minibot before deployment.
It also states that the minibot has to be deployed on a tower or else a penalty of the highest race score is implied.
I think that now throwing the minibot from the hostbot should be out of the design, it seems as if they want us to build the minibot like a FTC team would.
<R92> A. has TETRIX components that are not in violation of any other rules.
Thank you,
<G19> MINIBOTS must remain completely autonomous and move up the POST solely through electric energy provided after DEPLOYMENT by the permitted, unaltered battery and converted to mechanical energy by the permitted unaltered motors (and associated, appropriate circuitry). Violation: The TOWER on which the MINIBOT is DEPLOYED is disabled. If the MINIBOT is DEPLOYED on something other than a TOWER, then the ALLIANCE’S TOWER upon which the highest RACE SCORE was earned will be discounted.
<G19> means that HOSTBOTS are not allowed to launch the MINIBOT up the pole at the TARGET, or otherwise contribute to the vertical movement of the MINIBOT. Energy for vertical movement may not be stored in the MINIBOT before DEPLOYMENT (except that which is contained within the battery and excluding incidental kinetic energy stored in the motors or wheels, but NOT, for example, in a flywheel).
Now that we’ve received some design changing news, does anybody have non-stored-energy-that-contributes-to-the-vertical-movement-of-the-robot ideas? 
I don’t know that there would be anything more efficient than wheels, to be honest. (Given the design restraints.)
I don’t mind the FTC thing… I just wish that we had to use the battery/no-stored-energy restriction and weren’t allowed to use wheels…
One of my friends mentioned corkscrews. I dont know how it would work, but it would be interesting.
I’m sure that the robot has to move under its own power after the first 18 inches of the pole. (also sure you can’t use springs)/.