Hello, Upon a close inspection of the game manual, I noticed a discrepancy between the intent of VUG6 and the actual wording of the rule. VUG6 reads:
"The Robot which starts 24” tall must return to 24” once it is no longer contacting the Expansion Zone. The Robot which starts 15” tall must return to 15” once it is no longer contacting the Expansion Zone."
The loophole lies with in phrase "starts 24" tall" and "starts 15" tall. Very few robots actually start at 24" tall and 15" tall. In practice they are smaller then these values, for example a robot sarting at a height of 23" tall and another robot starting at a height of 14.5" tall. The way the rule is written, a robot starting at 23" tall and another starting at 14.5" tall would not fall under VUG6 as it is not starting at 24" tall nor 15" tall. Furthermore since VUG6 no longer applies to these robots, SG2a would apply. SG2a reads:
"Once the Match begins, a Robot which is contacting the Expansion Zone may expand vertically with no height limit. However, once fully outside of the Expansion Zone (i.e. no longer contacting it), the Robot must return to a height limit of 18” (457.2 mm) tall."
So from the actual wording of the game manual, all vexU robots that do not start at exactly 24" tall or 15" tall then must return to be within 18" outside of the expansion zone. So that means that nearly every vexU team has violated the game manual rules as they are written.
The intent of the rule clearly is to base the expansion rules off the robots that start within 24" tall and within 15" tall, which is how vexU has been playing Turning Point sofar. However, even this wording is inadequate as the scenerio that both robots start within 15" tall would cause confusion on which robot would be allowed to expand vertically. For example, a 23x23x14" tall robot and a 14x14x14 robot. Now is the 14"x14x14 robot allowed to expand to 24" tall, declaring that is your robot that started within 24" tall, and the 23x23x14" robot limited to 15" expansion declaring that is your robot that started within 15" tall?
I would like to propose the wording of VUG6 to revised to reflect the actual robot definitions established in VUR1. VUR1 reads:
"Teams must build two (2) Robots, subject to the following size restrictions at the start of the match: c. Robot A must be smaller than 24” x 24” x 24”. d. Robot B must be smaller than 15” x 15” x 15”. "
Therefore using the definitions of robot A and robot B already set by VUR1, I would like to propose VUG6 be revised to: "Robot A must return to 24” once it is no longer contacting the Expansion Zone. Robot B must return to 15” once it is no longer contacting the Expansion Zone."