<G4>
The Robot must represent the skill level of the Team. Each Team must include Drivers, Programmer(s), Designer(s), and Builder(s). No Student may fulfill any of these roles for more than one VEX IQ Robotics Competition Team in a given competition season. Students may have more than one role on the Team, e.g. the Designer may also be the Builder, the Programmer and a Driver. Team members may move from one Team to another for non-strategic reasons outside of the Team’s control. Examples of permissible moves may include, but are not limited to, illness, changing schools, conflicts within a Team, or combining/splitting Teams. Examples of strategic moves in Violation of this rule may include, but are not limited to, one Programmer “switching” Teams in order to write the same program for multiple Robots, or one Student writing the Engineering Notebook for multiple Teams. If a Student leaves a Team to join another Team, <G4> still applies to the Students remaining on the previous Team. For example, if a Programmer leaves a Team, then that Team’s Robot must still represent the skill level of the Team without that Programmer. One way to accomplish this would be to ensure that the Programmer teaches or trains a “replacement” Programmer in their absence. When a Team qualifies for a Championship event (e.g., States, Nationals, Worlds, etc.) the Students on the Team attending the Championship event are expected to be the same Students on the Team that was awarded the spot. Students can be added as support to the Team, but may not be added as Drivers or Programmers for the Team. An exception is allowed if one (1) Driver and/or one (1) Programmer on the Team cannot attend the event. The Team can make a single substitution of a Driver or Programmer for the Championship event with another Student, even if that Student has competed on a different Team. This Student will now be on this new Team and may not substitute back to the original Team. Violation Notes: Violations of this rule will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis, in tandem with the REC Foundation Student Centered Policy as noted in <G2>, and the REC Foundation Code of Conduct as noted in <G1>.
Event Partners should bear in mind <G3>, and use common sense when enforcing this rule. It is not the intent to punish a Team who may change Team members over the course of a season due to illness, changing schools, conflicts within a Team, etc. Event Partners and referees are not expected to keep a roster of any Student who has ever been a Driver for one day. This rule is intended to block any instance of loaning or sharing Team members for the sole purpose of gaining a competitive advantage.
Significant Q&As: 1965 - Guidelines for adding new Team members for the VEX World Championship