FIRST Robotics Competition Blog

A few years ago, we separated the Event Manual from the Game Manual. The thinking was that most of these rules were the same each year and that we could shorten the game manual by keeping it separate. One unintended consequence was that lots of folks now didn’t know that the Event Manual existed.

So, this season we’re putting the Event Manual material back into the Game Manual. Because of that, the rules will not be available until Kickoff. There are a few updates that we want to make you aware of now.

First, motorized carts (i.e. carts with powered propulsion) will not be allowed to be used at events. These carts create safety hazards as the driving could become uncontrolled in potentially crowded areas. This rule is not meant to disallow carts with motorized lifts.

Second, we are explicitly allowing small carts to be on the playing field to help teams get robots on and off the field. The intent here is that teams can put their robots onto something like a furniture dolly to avoid someone having to walk backwards while carrying the robot.

Finally, we are adding a rule to give better guidance on the flag and flagpole size. This is intended to give some guidelines on what is reasonable for an Emcee to wave around at events, but it will be up to each Emcee if they are comfortable waving the flag that is above the limits. We know this rule is new and your team may already have a flag that is above the limits, we will be providing guidance to Emcees to be more lenient this first year.

Drafts of these rules, as we expect them to appear in the official 2024 Game Manual, are below. See you at Kickoff!