Now why. Just why did they have to remove painting, anodizing, or color changing ANYTHING. I guess it is just illegal to have a distinct and cool looking robot now. I don’t even know why they would do this, if it was an issue with red and blue colored parts, then why dont you just ban those color changes? Instead of completely nuke the whole thing and make every single robot look the same. Not to mention that half of our metal is now unusable. Just great I guess…
Rule explicitly prohibits anodizing, painting, dyeing, or changing the color of any legal VEX part. This move is likely tied to the game’s heavy emphasis on AI Vision and Optical Sensors; the GDC wants to ensure sensors can reliably identify objects without being confused by robots that look like Field Elements, Scoring Objects, or other distracting colors. You can still use non-functional decorations for aesthetics, provided they don’t mimic game elements or interfere with opponent sensors.
Then why don’t they just ban specific colors? Instead of completely ruining the whole thing. The only thing I see coming out of this is that Vex sells it’s own painted metal.