<G4>

The Robot must represent the skill level of the Team. Each Team must include Drivers, Coder(s), Designer(s), and Builder(s); many also include notebooker(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 Coder, 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 Coder “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 Coder leaves a Team, then that Team’s Robot must still represent the skill level of the Team without that Coder. One way to accomplish this would be to ensure that the Coder teaches or trains a “replacement” Coder in their absence.
    Points i and ii are intended to represent real-world situations that are found in industry engineering. If a vital member of a professional engineering team were to suddenly leave, the remaining members of the team should still be capable of working on / maintaining their project.
  • 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 Coders for the Team. An exception is allowed if only one (1) member of the Team is able to attend the event. The Team can make a single substitution of a Driver or Coder 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 during the season.
  • Loaders are an exception to this rule. If a Team only has two Students and is unable to field a three-Student Drive Team, they may choose from one of the following options: For a given Match, they may substitute in a Student from their Alliance Partner’s Team as a temporary Loader. They may do this in as many Matches as needed. For a given event, they may substitute in a Student from another Team to be their Loader for the duration of the event. This Student may only serve as a Loader for one Team at a given event, and will effectively become a member of the new Team for that event. There is no requirement for a Drive Team to have a Loader; if desired, they can play the Match with only two Drivers, and rely on their Alliance Partner’s Loader.
    • 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>.
  • Regarding point C and substitute Loaders: It would be severely outside the intent of this rule, and a potential Code of Conduct / <G1> Violation, for a Team to forcefully “offer” a substitute onto their Alliance Partner, and/or ask their Alliance Partner’s Loader to sit out for a Match.
    • 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 prohibit any instance of loaning or sharing Team members for the sole purpose of gaining a competitive advantage.