Robotics Education & Competition Foundation
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Official Q&A: VEX IQ Robotics Competition 2024-2025: Rapid Relay

Usage Guidelines All Questions

2241: Marking of Balls (Revisited)


Jon Kitagawa (Event Partner)
30-Oct-2024

On May 17th a QA post was made about marking balls for identification for the scoring referees. On June 6th the GDC replied and stated that marking/decorating balls is not an approved modification but would later revisit the topic if needed.

<T11> now specifically mentions this QA post and outlines that ball decorations for identification are not permitted.

https://www.robotevents.com/VIQRC/2024-2025/QA/2019

Has the GDC reconsidered/revisited this stance since the posting? The volunteers at my events are older/retired individuals and have specifically asked if we could mark the balls so tracking them during passes would be easier for them. I unfortunately had to decline and say that under the current rules, this modification was not allowed.

Some teams also loan/borrow field elements to various events. In the past, these field elements sometimes have initials on the field elements written in permanent pen so that they can be returned to the correct school at the end of the event. Should these writings also not be allowed?

Answered by committee
9-Jan-2025

Adding a small mark (for example, a Team number) to identify the team or organization that owns a Rapid Relay ball is permissible, but marking a Ball in a larger way to to differentiate one Ball from another during Match play is still not permitted.