I think the new game rules are honestly really really stupid. You can have only 12 pieces of poly acn you can’t have custom license plates anymore. I want them to be changed to be more fair for the game and make it like the previous seasons.
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I’d imagine the limiting the use of non-shattering plastic to 12 pieces would be to push teams to be more creative and think outside the box. Custom license plates aren’t fully prohibited; however, they did ban 3d printing them. I don’t see how you consider this unfair, and games/rules being different each season is actually a core part of VEX Robotics. It keeps things fresh, prevents a single strategy from dominating year after year, and encourages teams to explore new solutions.
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You are allowed to have custom plates.
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Including non-functional decorations… 
Goodbye custom drivetrain sideplates 
Yk I was actually excited for this season… seemed like a nice game idea. I guess you can’t have your cake and eat it too.
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I would not be so quick to label an GDC decision as “really really stupid.” Typically, major constraints that are introduced are there for reason. Usually, some act happened during previous season that upset the balance of the game. These at the time seem very clever because the GDC had not thought of the scenario.
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Heres a petition to repeal R25. Please share it with others so we can bring back 3D printed license plates and plastic wheel guards.
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should have done R19k rather then R25
Actually, both of them are terrible rule changes. Can someone create a petition for the R19K too?
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The petition protests both the plastic limitations and the ban on 3D printed decorations. R25 also has a clause that prohibits 3D printed decorations. “This rule does not apply to 3D printed plastic parts. 3D printed parts are not permitted in the VEX V5
Robotics Competition for any purpose, including non-functional decorations.”
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3d printed plates are currently illegal
Got it now. The rule is R25 h. I was looking at the license plate section, which allows custom plates.
I dont think removing the singular most customizable thing in VRC is going to help with that…
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What i mean is I’d imagine they want us to use our creativity to find a way to create a solution with new constraints.
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Guys calm down, they are just license plates. The GDC has made up their mind, there is nothing you can do about it (including a petition, does not help). Vex clearly is tired of the poly overuse and just wants teams to be more creative like when it first came out. An average high stakes robot had about 15 individual pieces of poly and the more advanced had upper 20. Just accept the rule, and find a way to build around it.
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I’m willing to bet that the average poly pieces per bot in the dome was in the 50s range.
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The GDC makes mistakes like everyone else. And, I would argue that their main objective is to create a good experience for us teams. As such why wouldn’t they like to hear our feedback? Even if the petition doesn’t change anything it is never a bad idea to stand up for your ideas.
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An average high stakes robot had about 15 individual pieces of poly and the more advanced had upper 20.
One problem with this approach. My team’s bots (both states and worlds) had upwards of 30 pieces on them. the states bot had 36, I believe, and the worlds bot had 44. Most of these pieces were smaller gussets designed to ensure that we could easily brace drivetrains and mount pneumatics as needed, sine trying to find places to mount 1x1 angle every time we needed to mount a cylinder was insanity. Personally, I liked the older rules as they allowed for many creative solutions to similar problems, such as 2654E’s leaf-spring odom pods and the more common linear odometry. The new rules would mean that two linear odom pods would take up a third of your plastic limit, and to be frank, as one who used other designs that had no poly at all, the versions that do not use poly were horrendously inconsistient for us. We have four teams, and mine is the only one that lasercuts our poly, as our team has the only members who know how to use the laser cutter well. We’ve been training the other teams on it as well, but most preferred to handcut the pieces that didn’t require wacky custom geometry, although they still could have been handcut using a regular printer, a template, and a pair of shears. The plastic limit on at least parts is quite limiting to the possibilities this year, and the license plate ban removes the ability to solve problems regarding them as well. For example, my team uses 3d printed double-sided plates that are COMPLETELY made using the VEX plate CAD, with a nicer font that is still super easy to read. WE put them in 3d printed holders, as it makes them easier to swap, and also because bolting plates to the robot took forever in the olden days. It’s infuriating as an org to have a lot of nice equipment for the only robotics competition you are continuing as interest in others has died out and then discovering that you can’t even use it there either.
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Because then we would be playing a water game with unlimited expansion, motors, plastic, and legalized flamethrowers or something weird. None of us competitors fully like the rule, but instead of cluttering literally every single Push Back thread on the forums with R25 complaints, let’s get over it and figure out how to design a robot around these constraints.
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They aren’t really concerned with making a good experience for us teams as much as they are for the people who run events. It is much easier to inspect with this rule, and the more events that get set up, the more people that can do robotics competitions. Not to mention, this probably wouldn’t be a rule if teams didn’t bend the rules with the original poly constraints.
I am a little bit confused as to what you are arguing, are you saying that we should never share our opinions with the GDC? The GDC doesn’t have to listen to all of the students ideas, as I agree many are ridiculous. As for your point about the forums being cluttered I would give it a day or 2 people will probably move on kinda quickly once they made their opinions known
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