My team is competing in the Indiana State competition this march, and we are wanting to make sure we have the best interview possible. We have undergone a major rebuild and have kept the previous robot for practice. Since many of the features of the new robot are mostly better versions of the old robot’s, we are wanting to take the old robot in addition to our current robot to the interview to aid us in explaining. I am wanting to know if anyone has done this before and if you would recommend it. (BTW, I am in IQ but I think this question applies to all of VEX)
Before you say “You may only have one robot”, I have already checked this. The definition of a “robot” is “a machine that has passed inspection”. Since we are not inspecting the old robot, it technically is not a “robot” as per the game manual.
We had a team at a recent signature event who brought a second robot for their interview, and almost got in big trouble. The issue and discussion went all the way up the RECF chain to determine how to handle this. Ultimately, after interviewing the team in a special meeting and observing throughout the rest of the day that the second robot never left their pit the first day, and it did not come back the second day, the team was allowed to compete.
The moral is, do not bring a complete second robot, but instead be sure it is not complete by removing at least the brain and most of the wires / control system so it does not meet the definition of a robot, whether or not you went through inspection with it.
I agree. If you were to remove enough components to make it so that it both physically could never pass inspection, and wouldnt work if you put electronics on it, then it should be ok.