Is Leaving an Aligning Tool on the Field During Programming Skills Legal?

[Golf]

I should clarify. You said

@SCFarrell

It isn’t part of the robot. It doesn’t get inspected. It doesn’t have to fit within the starting dimensions.

I see this as being “If it is not attached to the robot, it’s not part of the robot“, which is a completely fair claim. And to add, you mentioned that it doesn’t have to start within the requirements. So following these rules, I created an example that falls under the exact same rules (Being 1,000 screws that aren’t part of my robot) , the drastic nature of it was not meant to be snarky, but rather to paint a more clear picture of what is happening with the alignment tool.
For total clarity, both parts (screws and alignment tool) were not inspected, and are not part of the robot, the standoff does not have to start within requirements, so neither do the screws.
Also I do not believe I was twisting the context, but like I already said directly responding to your post, the context may of sounded twisted because of the extreme nature of my example.

[SCFarrell]

Golf, I will refer you to G3 and leave it at that, I am not interested in discussing the absurd any longer.

As to FRC973, nothing changes in the rule interpretation to allow the tool at the onset, but not allow it for a reset. It must never be on the field while the robot is moving. If you interpret it as legal for pre-match setup, you should interpret it as legal for resets unless the rule compels you otherwise.

[cougarbots]

Rather than arguing about this here on the forum, you should just ask the question in the official Q & A. That is the only answer that really matters.