1. The maximum robot weight limit is increased to 125lbs (excluding battery and bumpers).
2. There will be no formal inspection, weigh-in or robot sizing. Issues which are brought to the event coordinator’s attention by the referees, FTA, event staff or other teams will be looked into.
3. The initial tower strength will be 8
4. The Drawbridge and Portcullis will not be available. Category A will always be the Cheval de Frise, and Category C will always be the Sally Port.
5. During qualification matches, there will be no team or audience selection of defenses. The defenses will be randomly selected per round. The defenses will be the same for both alliances. Defense Categories remain in effect (e.g. the randomized selection cannot place a Rock Wall and a Rough Terrain in the same round)
6. During playoff matches, alliances will select the defenses for positions 1, 2 and 4. Position 3 (formerly audience selection) will be randomized and will be the same for both alliances.

Alliance Selection Changes
All teams will get an opportunity to play in the playoff tournament. Assuming 24 teams in attendance, there will be 8 alliances. 

The first round of alliance selection will proceed as normal, with the 1st seeded team choosing their first partner, followed by the 2nd seeded team choosing their first partner and so on. Once all alliance captains have chosen their first partner, the remaining unselected teams will have their number placed in a hat. The selection then proceeds in reverse order, with the lowest seeded alliance captain drawing their third partner out of the hat, followed by the 2nd lowest, and so on until all alliances have three robots.

The number of alliances will be adjusted based on the number of teams in attendance. If the number of alliances is not a power of 2, top seeded alliances will be quarterfinal round byes.

AWARDS:   A detailed award list is available here.

RULES+awards