Answered: Changing of Subsystem 3 during a competition

brendanmcguire · November 12, 2016, 2:17pm

See rule <R1>:

<R1> Only one (1) robot will be allowed to compete per team in the VEX Robotics Competition.
Though it is expected that teams will make changes to their robot at the competition, a team is limited
to only one (1) robot. As such, a VEX robot, for the purposes of the VEX Robotics Competition, has
the following subsystems:

Subsystem 1: Mobile robotic base including wheels, tracks, legs, or any other mechanism that allows
the robot to navigate the majority of the flat playing field surface. For a stationary robot, the robotic
base without wheels would be considered Subsystem 1.

Subsystem 2: Power and control system that includes a VEX legal battery, a VEX control system,
and associated motors for the mobile robotic base.

Subsystem 3: Additional mechanisms (and associated motors) that allow manipulation of game
objects or navigation of field obstacles.

Given the above definitions, a minimum robot for use in any VEX Robotics Competition event
(including skills challenges) must consist of 1 and 2 above. Thus if you are swapping out an entire
subsystem of either item 1 or 2, you have now created a second robot and are no longer legal.
a. Teams may not compete with one robot, while a second is being modified or assembled.
b. Teams may not switch back and forth between multiple robots during a competition.

This implies that teams are allowed to switch out Subsystem 3 during a competition is legal. Building a mechanism for which you use only for certain matches, that you can quickly mount in between matches, is also competition legal.

Is this interpretation correct?

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I would suspect, that if this is competition legal, competition officials would need to inspect the robot in both states. Is this also correct?

Karthik · November 14, 2016, 7:23am

Yes, this interpretation is correct. Teams may freely switch out between different Subsystem 3’s, as long as the Robot has been inspected in all of the various configurations.

This is also correct!