On April 5th, 2019, the scheduled “VEX Worlds Update” was released. It contained the following changes to the official VRC Turning Point Game Manual. Unless otherwise noted, the changes are bolded for emphasis:
<G6> Drive your own Robot. Each Team shall include up to three Drive Team Members. No Drive Team Member may fulfill this role for more than one Team in a given competition season. Violations or refusal to comply with this rule could be considered a violation of the Code of Conduct and/or <G1> .
<T02> The only people from a Team permitted by the playing field are the three Drive Team Members who are identified by their drive team badges. These badges are interchangeable, but not during a Match .
Drive team badges will not be used at the 2019 VEX Robotics World Championship. <T02>, <G6>, and <G7> will still otherwise apply.
<T03> There are no time outs in Qualifying Matches ; in the elimination rounds, each Alliance will be allotted ONE time out of no more than three (3) minutes, as permitted by the head referee. This time out may not be called during a Match. The Matches must progress according to schedule.
(new) <T05> Prior to the beginning of each Match , Drive Team Members must plug their VEXnet Joystick or V5 Controller into the VEXnet Field Controller’s Cat-5 cable via their controller’s competition port. This cable must remain plugged in for the duration of the Match , and may not be removed until the “all-clear” has been given for Drive Team Members to retrieve their Robots .
Note: The intent of this rule is to ensure that Robots abide by commands sent by tournament software. Temporarily removing the cable to assist with mid-Match troubleshooting, with an Event Partner or other event technical staff present and assisting, would not be considered a violation.
Minor violations of these rules that do not affect the Match will result in a warning. Match Affecting offenses will result in a Disqualification. Teams that receive multiple warnings may also receive a Disqualification at the Head Referee’s discretion.
(new) Field Modification : At the 2019 VEX Robotics World Championship, VEX EDR standoffs will be added to the bottom row of Flags to prevent them from over-rotating.
(new) Field Modification: At the 2019 VEX Robotics World Championship, the Alliance Stations will be moved 24” (0.61m) closer to the Net.
<R14> The only allowable source(s) of electrical power are as follows:
b. If using a V5 Robot Brain, robots may use (1) V5 Robot Battery (276-4811).
iii. V5 Wireless Controllers may only be powered by their internal rechargeable battery.
1. Teams are permitted to have an external power source (such as a rechargeable battery pack) plugged into their V5 Controller during a Match, provided that this power source is connected safely and does not violate any other rules, such as <G7> or <R16>.
<R20> To participate in an official VEX Robotics Competition Tournament, a team must first register on www.robotevents.com. Teams that are not registered will not be eligible to compete.
b. The VRC License Plates are considered a non-functional decoration, and cannot be used as a functional part of the robot. As such, using a License Plate for a functional purpose, such as Toggling Flags, is not permitted.
e. Robots must use the colored plates that match their alliance color for each match (i.e. red alliance robots must have their red plates on for the match). It must be abundantly clear which color alliance the robot belongs to.
i. If the plates are attached to opposite-color plates, then the incorrect color must be covered, taped over, or otherwise obscured to ensure that the correct alliance color is abundantly clear to Head Referees during a Match. Since License Plates are considered non-functional decorations, this is a legal non-functional use of tape.
The update also included VEX Worlds tournament structure details about Division Elimination Matches, World Championship Finals, and World Skills Challenge Finals. See the PDF linked above for full details.