I understand that this topic is fairly similar to this one, but I feel this is different enough to constitute a new topic.
In our competition today, we white-screened 3 times, 2 of which being in quarterfinals and our first semifinals. All of these happened relatively early in the match. We could have lost all of these, as our pushbot opponents had an opportunity to push more mobile goals to their side and be able to win. Thankfully, we did not white-screen until we had scored at least one ring in the elimination matches, so the amount of goals on each alliance’s side did not matter. However, we could have won instead of tied our qualifier match, as we white-screened before we were able to score any rings. Had we been able to replay this match, we almost certainly would have won (our opponents were pushbots, and we could score on our alliance stake), significantly impacting our ranking. Had we lost because of a white screen in eliminations, it would have been unfair to us and even more so to our opponents, as we were unable to control this. Our organization has been using the same batteries and battery cables since the beginning of its inception in Spin Up, and as a result, many do not function properly. My team and I feel that it is unfair to not allow us a replay for a match where half of an alliance is a non-functional decoration on a field for reasons out of our control. This note made some sense for worlds, as they were operating on a massive scale and tight schedule, but this rule does not make sense for a local 32 team event.
During initial release phase of V5 system the White Screen shutdown of a robot was novel, and a lot of effort went to determining causes, including static on field in low humidity settings. From events we hosted (leaky steam pipes & application of anti-static spray to tiles) static did not appear to be cause. One of our teams place foam strips (VEX parts) behind brain and had no issues afterwards (Turning Point season). The hypothesis is that impact between robots/field elements could have cause brief loss of power to brain.
SO, the question you ask - should the rule apply to small events vs Worlds - absolutely! Same rules should apply to all qualifying events that advance teams to events that advance teams to Worlds. Best to fail fast and adapt before heading to Worlds.
The fact that you’ve whitescreened multiple times at the same tournament would seem to indicate there is something with your cables/battery and therefore would be within your control, even if that means purchasing replacement equipment that does not lead to these types of faults.
While it is natural to want to win in a competition format like Vex, thinking that you are “entitled” to win because your robot is in your opinion “more capable” than your opponents’ can be problematic.
In sports, a truism is “The best ability is availability”. You could be the best athlete in whatever sport, but if you are constantly injured, you’ll likely never get to prove that. If your robot is consistently not able to complete a match, why would losing one such be “unfair to us and even more so to our opponents”, especially if your opponents were able to function for the duration of the match?
The best robots do not always win, sometimes for reasons within their control and sometimes not. That’s a part of life, and can also be a motivator to improve - by minimizing those things that can go wrong.
Try changing your battery cable. Whitescreens usually happen when the robot has a damaged or incorrectly installed battery cable. The robot loses access to power for a split second and the whitescreen occurs. This often happens when they experience contact in matches, so lacsap’s advice could be helpful as well.