I was looking to put fold out bars on the side of our robot, almost like wings to make the robot wider to block a specific area or goal. I know in the manual it says gateway is meant to be an offensive game so I’m unsure as to if this would be allowed. Have any teams tried this or know the specific ruling on such a device?
lol… Both my robot, and 2921A (my alliance) had these at world cup… alot of people didnt think they were legal, i think they should be totally, they say it is an entanglement risk, but it is really no different to a folding out intake, if anything it is less risky because they dont spin… then they only let us use them in the last 10 seconds, and if someone got entangled (even if they did it intentionally) it would be our fault 
Id like to see an official ruling of this actually 
Well this robot is completely legal:
And it’s approximately 5 feet wide.
Folks,
This is really an easy topic to clear up. There is no reason for you to feel that you have unanswered questions. Let’s see if I can help you help yourselves.
First, be very clear about the difference between intentions and rules. Ask in the Official Gateway Q&A forum if you are at all unclear about which makes a design legal or illegal.
Second, search the Official Q&A for rulings that pertain to expanding robots and read all that you find.
Third, if you don’t find what you are looking for during the search for rulings pertaining to expanding robots, ask a question in the Q&A forum.
I think your current uncertainties will clear up quickly if you follow these suggestions.
See you in the pits and on the field - Be sure to have fun on the way there, and while you are there.
Blake
One of our teams did something similar for roundup, no problems with the refs.
Full sized image here.
I saw a similar design for Roundup at a Houston area competition, where the fold out wing could scrape rings off of the goal as it tipped over.
Here are our wings that we used at the Robot World Cup…
https://vexforum.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=5122&stc=1&d=1322025645
These were seen as an entanglement risk and therefore we couldn’t use them. Personally, I dont see them as a risk at all, we spent alot of time building them, testing them, making sure they were safe, we even tried to tangle one robot with them. They didn’t get entangled once, but you have to play to the rules so sometimes its better safe than sorry. Check with Karthik first 
~George
Also be careful about how the wings expand. Originally, I was thinking to use the fact that you can touch the robot to expand it. But it turns out that they only want you to use that for adjusting the robot’s position, NOT expanding a robot. go figure. 
I believe you can use these. You can play defense in Gateway it just says that if there is a play the ruling of that play will lean more to the offensive players because it is mainly an offensive game. These look like they would make it harder to navigate around the field. If you made them on pneumatics and only unfolded when you needed to block I believe that would help for your purposes of blocking.
I don’t think it would be overly defensive. Gateway is a strategic game and defense and blocking are large parts of many teams’ strategies, (mine especially), it would be fine to have bars extending to the sides to make your robot take up more space as long as you’re not specifically stabbing other robots, it’s no different than getting between the opponent and the goal except you’re more prepared for defensive strategies, which can be crucial in elimination rounds. My team has always been very defensive in the later rounds, (if we make it), and haven’t been frowned upon.