With all of the fields starting coming in and people getting to use and put them together, I have noticed some people are counter sinking the roller screws. This has a huge gameplay impact from my point of view and I’m wondering what the legality is on this, I don’t personally want to do this to my field because I don’t feel like it will be like this at worlds but if all of my competitions will have rollers with this modification how can I ensure that the field is similar enough to work with my autonomous routines? Any advice from higher ups would be nice so I can try and help get it resolved before all of the fields are modified. Thanks
I would assume it would be illegal because it makes a big difference on gameplay. If your trying to test your autonomous at an event with these rollers my best advice is to go to a practice field and readjust how much your auton spins the rollers.
The screws need to be just tight, the heads stick up to act as a detent.
The screw holding the rubber ring also needs to be just tight, not creating a bulge.
Countersunk screws in the roller are not listed as a legal modification in appendix A with the most recent game manual update, so I do not think they would be allowed in a competition setting. I think you should stick with the button-headed Torx screws.
Your question is legit, however, the proper place to ask is the Official Q&A on RobotEvents.com
I urge that you do so.
I would also recommend contacting your RECF rep (TEM) to make sure that EPS aren’t planing on hosting competitions with such a field modification. The GDC has already stated that the screw heads need to stick up and act as a secondary way to help keep the roller in a scored state (both in Q&A & EP Summit), and I don’t expect them to make this game play impacting field modification legal.
From the Q&A: