My team as a rather vertically challenged driver who has trouble seeing the field when it is elevated. Is it acceptable to use a small riser/step stool during the matches at Worlds? It would be no more than 8" high and just wide enough for him to stand on (meaning it would not extend beyond the boundaries marked out for the teams.
You should post this in the Official Worlds Q&A for an official answer to your question. I believe that in previous years that this was ruled illegal since it posed a potential safety hazard.
It says it right in the rules, and in the past they have not made any exceptions.
Interesting… I am wonder what ADA would have to say about this??? I didn’t realize robotics competitions would be biased toward the height of the team members. I hope there aren’t any stairs at the convention center because that could be really dangerous…
This is probably something you should have brought up long before now, they could have had a conversation about it with your team member. Also its about overall safety not bias
You kind of did…
What does gender have to do with it? I find the “put him on the shoulders” of a other teamate a totally rude and uneducated comment.
It doesn’t… I apologize. I know everyone on here wants to see their teams have a great time next week. I am just frustrated when something like robotics competitions are still subject to the same advantages physical dimensions have in every other “sport.” We will do our best… I appreciate you all bringing me back to realty.
My point exactly… thanks for the reply! If there wasn’t a driver control period, I would have no issue. If we can’t have stools, maybe give every team a live video monitor to drive off of!
I apologize on behalf of our robotics club and the 675 teams for the comment made by @infinity_dragon this was not an appropriate comment for a serious concern. I feel like a person who legally has a disability should be accommodated for and I hope that you will talk to the organizers of the event if this is the case, but there is no reason to be rude about any of this. I wish your team good luck at worlds this week and hope to see you all there! 
I want to apologize to @Bigreis for my inconsiderate post earlier about a serious problem. I was not intending to cause any issues, nor did I think about the consequences of what I said. This is definitely not how I intended for this to come across. Looking back, I realize how this came across as very rude and I also apologize to the team member on your team for being offensive. I have since deleted the post, and good luck at worlds
No worries! I was simply trying to point out that the rules seem to be biased towards teams with tall drivers… of course there isn’t a realistic way of getting around this, but having the teams on the same plane as the field would be a great start. It is pretty hard to dive a robot when you can’t see the field. I don’t think my team would feel right about competing against another team if the situation was reversed.
Thank you. All is good… this is why I love VEX! Not only do we learn to be awesome at robotics, but we (including me) learn how easily something posted on a forum can be taken out of context. I imagine your comment was intended as a possible solution to a problem and nothing more. That is the spirit of innovation and you should need to apologize for that, even if it was somewhat unorthodox!
The only issue this year that I could see would be leaning off-balance and then getting hit really hard by a ball. Even then, an 8" fall might result in a twisted ankle at the worst. I guess if a robot gets lifted and falls out of the field, you couldn’t move out of the way easily, but that’s not at all likely.
I agree that the rule is unfair, but I’m sure Vex has its reasons for not allowing stools. Maybe their insurance company won’t allow it, calling it an unnecessary risk? I don’t know.
Its not vex who gets sued if someone falls down a flight of stairs. They are just trying to protect themselves, no bias.
These are good points. There are plenty of stairs in Freedom Hall and plenty of accessible areas for the public who need accommodations. The other point deals with a participant needing accommodations. Special requests for teams can be made in the Team Info that all teams are supposed to fill out. There is a specific question “If someone in your group needs disability accommodations, please describe the services and/or accommodation needed.” that your team can fill out. As for the specific needs for your teammate, I would suggest reaching out to your RECF Regional Manager (you can find the contact info at roboticseducation.org ) although, you they are probably enroute and setting up for VEX Worlds.
At this point, if they are not aware of the need, then it is hard for the venue to make reasonable accommodation under ADA.
We will have that problem ourselves as our drive team is two relatively short freshmen and I dont think anyone on our team is taller than 5’6" so the raised fields pose an enormous problem to vision and loading. I understand the safety issues but we have to sign waivers anyway so why not add this.
It isn’t that big of a problem for anyone over 5’ in my experience. I believe they are talking about someone who is smaller than that
May I ask how tall your field member is? From prior experience, the fields at worlds are raised 2 feet. This means that the field wall height is 36 inches above the ground.
Last year, I did get to see some middle school teams driving their robots, and they seemed to do pretty ok.
I know it’s not the most ideal condition, but your team member should be able to drive very well after some practice runs. (Assuming he’s at least 5ft in height).
I’m sorry you guys have to deal with this. My hope has always been a 4 by 2 foot platform that the driver could stand on adjoining the field…
It was a bit of a problem for toss-up and skyrise where parts of the field were blocked from view that were normally visible (the barrier in toss-up made it harder to see the stashes or buckyballs on the floor, and the pyramid in the center for skyrise).