Well said. Next on the list 3 team alliances and BO3.
Not sure about that. Perhaps this is really just a discussion about why VRC is closed materials with silly rulings about screw materials? Hey at least it hasnāt gone down the 3D printing road - yet.
Pitsco fronted up with $$ to push Tetrix, and to be perfectly honest at the time it was probably a more robust build system than early VEX (plastic gear servo motors and 269ās). FIRST runs and makes decisions using $$. At the time Pitsco was pretty much LEGO Education North America so were handling FLL product thus a strategic move into FVC space was business case driven to help drive Tetrix sales into the education space where they were already making $$ from LEGO products. Since those times LEGO A/S stepped in and LEGO Education is no longer under the Pitsco umbrella.
There was some ādisagreementā between certain individuals at FIRST & IFI but you can bet it was $$ that drove the move from FVC to FTC. Competition in business is good for consumers apparently.
Hope you managed to emerge in one pieceā¦
I did, I think of the 8 things I was really pushing 5 of them got implemented by RECF. So I consider that good two days worth of work. More chances for groups like your was one of the wins.
Totally agree.
Think what a lot of students need to learn is that we canāt just win all the time and in everything.
And for certain issues, it is also about getting the timing right.
So for screwgate (and 3d printing), we can always try again next season, etc. But not much point still trying to fight this windmill - at least not for this half season left.
iā¦ really donāt think itās fair to call this half a season left, the vast majority of programs donāt even start until around this time, and many donāt begin until the winter break.
okā¦ 3/4 of the season left thenā¦
but for us, it is half season (even though we are still waiting for the game elements to arriveā¦ lol) gone.
Coz our nationals will be in Jan. So feels like half of the time has gone.
How annoying are these to make? I am guessing they are a headache to make.
Not as annoying as when the GDC ban commercially bought nylon screwsā¦
adding onto this, our PUBLIC school that doesnāt fund us does vrc and frc and itās a struggle, past 3 years our needed funds upwards of 20,000. this yearās itās 24,000 because we added an additional sister team for vrc.
How many teams is that?
we have 5 teams now.
Ok, I feel better, $20K seemed to be a lot for one team. You must do a lot of events and travel.
$4k for a new VRC team seems reasonable
We do 2-3 regional events for frc, and we do like 5-6 for vex.
I coined the phrase āScrewgateā to cover this topic, but today I want to talk about āWashergateā. (And my real move was to file a Q&A question, but thatās been closed for the season. )
According to RoboSource, this lovely fender washer is legal since it fits an 8/32 screw, the standard size of VEX screws. Roboteers used some screws, these washer and some other VEX parts to create this
And use it as the weight for their endgame āspider webā.
At an event another team called these parts into question since there was added functionality, ie the weight. The builders quoted Rule R11. They asked the question: If these washers were mounted on the frame would the also be considered having additional functionality. The answer was no, since the washer would actually have detrimental functionality since it would add to the robots weight. The legality of the part went from the Head Ref to the RECF manager, to the people on event call that weekend to the GDC. The ruling came back that it was fine for this event.
That solved the instant case of that event, but did not bode well for the 4 April manual release. Are we to now play āadded here not added thereā for every component.
If so that calls into question the nuts on the SMC air reservoirs. On the reservoirs, they are fine, they are intended to be used that way. On the end of a piece of string, they now have added functionality and that should not be allowed. Iām also seeing larger nuts being used that donāt fit the rule like 1/4-20, 1/2", 3/4" nuts.
āCertain non-VEX screws, nuts, and washers are allowed. Robots may use any commercially available #4, #6, #8, M3, M3. 5, or M4 screw up to 2.5ā (63.5mm) long (nominal), and any commercially available nut, washer, and / or non-threaded spacer (up to 2.5ā (63.5mm) long) to fit these screws.ā A 1/4"-20 or a 1/2" nut does not meet the criteria.
Iām open to other interpretations of this. Iām a little sad that so many questions have not been answered in the Q&A for both VRC and VEXU before closing them off.
bro fr needs to chill out 
why does it seem like youāre doing everything imaginable to cause problems for students who just wanna build a robot 
this literally does not matter. just stop it. no one benefits from you doing this.
I donāt really agree. Teams arenāt obligated to use components in their intended use case (see: cutting up gears for complex mechanisms, etc.), just to adhere to the legal modification processes in the game manual. Pneumatic reservoir nuts are legal for pretty much any use on robots.
Iāve also seen this, at least attempts anyways. We catch these at inspection in AZ and tell the teams to go back and find another way to weight their strings, since they arenāt legal parts. Any team using those parts is out of compliance with robot rules.
I 100% agree with this point.