Please note the following when reading this post:
That the hypothetical team in this question would have their robot(s?) inspected in all configurations.
The mindset of the team when they do this is that they are adding and removing pieces to Robot #1. Their mindset is not that they are switching robots, but rather that they are taking Robot #2 apart for pieces to add to Robot #1.
Here is my question:
In <R1> it says “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.”
In <R1> Subsystem 1 is defined as a “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.”
Say a team has one complete robot built (Robot #1), and they have another robot that is missing one wheels and one motor of the drive train (Robot #2).
The team then separates Robot #2 into its major components (i.e. a chain bar, a dr4b, a drivetrain, an intake, an electronics system)
The team now has one robot (Robot #1), and a pile of prebuilt robot parts that when assembled make up an entire robot minus a wheel and one motor.
The team then removes everything from Robot #1 except for its a wheel and one drive train motor.
The team then adds every piece from Robot #2 to the wheel and motor remaining from Robot #1, so they now have effectively completely rebuild Robot #1 without entirely replacing subsystems 1 and 2.
Does this count as having a second robot? The team did not swap out their entire subsystem 1 or subsystem 2. They only swapped out most of it.
What if the team did not disassemble Robot #2 before adding its pieces to Robot #1?
What if instead of the wheels from Robot #1, a screw from the drive train was saved?
Would the legality change if Robot #2 was missing all wheels in the beginning, and all wheels from Robot #1 were saved rather than just one. It could be argued that since Robot #2 never actually had a subsystem 1 that allowed them to navigate the field, it was never actually a robot. The team would then not be swapping robots, they would just be swapping the majority of their parts.
Robot #2 is not intended to be a stationary robot, so it just sitting on the starting mat would not qualify as a subsystem 1.
In writing this I used the following forum post answers to help define what a robot is:
https://vexforum.com/t/answered-sharing-robots-between-vex-u-and-vrc/43893/1
https://vexforum.com/t/answered-removing-a-subsystem-r1/45228/1