So to my understanding “extreme moderation” is never defined, meaning its completely up to the inspection judge’s discretion whether you have to replace all your flywheel parts or not
Inspectors inspect, judges give awards, referees run and score matches
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uh, if the robot does not pass inspection, the team has to decide what to do to bring robot into compliance with Game Manual Robot Rules.
Final decision of whether or not a robot meets Game Manual criteria is left to the Head Referee. So if you are puzzled during inspection, reach out to the Head Referee - they have final say.
I urge volunteer inspectors to remember this is a learning moment for teams - do not tell them how to solve the problem the facing (like chop off 2" off your robot), but inform about how the robot is not meeting the rules. If they ask for advice feel free to give some, but remind the team they are surrounded with a lot of experience of other teams at the event and good to build good relations with them as potential alliance partners in matches.
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I’ve never seen this called on any team ever. As long as you’re not transferring lubricant onto any other robot, game element, or field element you’re generally good.
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sometimes good to understand why this rule happened - my hypothesis is a team had extreme friction problem with their robot, and decided best solution is to soak the robot in lubricant (WD-40 solve all) and run quickly to field to match. Plops robot on field and you have a chemical spill the oozes across multiple tiles…
Like the safety rules and not having sharp edges, I am pretty sure due to someone deeply lacerating the digits and leaving a biohazard puddle on the field. (yeah, that happened at one of our events, and that field had to be closed until mess properly cleaned.
…
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And that time I had to run with a smoking cortex battery to the nearest exit to toss it outside…
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If that was at Worlds during Toss Up in Middle school - my team.
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This was a preemptive rule, we definitely didn’t like the idea of making mess that Event Partners would have to clean up.
This was also a preemptive rule, but not for the reason of spills. We just didn’t want people getting cuts from robots.
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Thanks for the perspective - preemptive or reactive…
From EP perspective - we know when we face such situations there is a reason for the rules!
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So my affectionately adorned “grease box” was the right decision
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fwiw a teammate of mine managed to cut themself on our robot (finger caught in gears, accidental and due to a communication error) at one of the practice fields at worlds this past year and it made quite the red mess. i helped clean it up the best I could and informed staff who told me it would be sanitized, and then proceeded to do nothing and leave bodily-fluid stained tiles for other teams to practice on.
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