I understand (and partially agree) that many of the rule changes may be at least partially in response to teams abusing the rules.
However, that still doesn’t change the fact that many of the rule changes require the turning over of more money to Vex from competitors. And for some teams it is quite a lot.
My team is absolutely blessed to not be blessed with the time to spray paint parts, but some weren’t as fortunate as we are. Those teams now have to shovel out more money yet again. Even my team may have to buy a new pneumatic tank depending on how R23f turns out.
Simply put, it’s not just “Ohhh our robot’s won’t look as cute anymore!”. And before someone says it, I’m certain that we will all get used to it just like last year, unfortunately.
I completely appreciate this point. @Entropy made similar comments, and there’s no denying that this aspect stinks. I like what @Entropy said about maybe a grace period for teams to replace parts. I might even throw out the idea of some kind of trade in system similar to what they did with the V5 rollout (though admittedly it’s not something I’ve given a whole lot of logistical thought to), but that’s a whole other discussion.
I just wanted to point out that the GDC’s primary responsibility is to create a fair competition field for all teams involved, and I don’t believe that it’s fair to blame them for rules like this when they are simply responding to the abusing of the rules in place.
In China (hence why since HS this was banned in China only). However, I’ve never heard of these incidents (and neither have any other teams from the communities I’m in), and like I said in other posts, I doubt having a slightly stronger c-channel was such an overwhelming advantage and such a vast swath of teams were doing it that the GDC had to shut down team spirit and one of the main ways students personalized their robots.
The plastic changes I get (I was one of the few that supported that change), and the new reservoir rule requiring a gauge I support also since enforcement of the “100 psi” rule was never really existent.
But this is just extremely overkill. It’s like banning wheels entirely cause some team 3d printed a couple omni-wheels.
Sometimes it feels like the go into the warehouse to figure out what parts they have overstock on and then design a game that needs those parts to be effective. I know they don’t actually do that, but it does feel like it.
I asked about legacy pneumatics in the Q&A. My question was answered yesterday. SMC pneumatics are NOT listed on the approved parts list, so they are not legal this year
From what I can tell, the original vision sensor is also no longer included on the legal parts list (only the AI Vision Sensor is), but that is probably also worth Q&Aing.
