1.9       Question and Answer System

The Question and Answer System (Q&A) is a resource for clarifying the 2026 REBUILT Game Manual, Awards webpages, official FIELD drawings, and/or District and Regional Events webpage content. Teams can search for previously asked questions and responses or pose new questions. Questions can include examples for clarity or reference multiple rules to understand the relationships and differences between them.

The Q&A opens on January 14, 2026, 12:00 PM Eastern. Details on the Q&A can be found on the Season Materials webpage. The Q&A may result in revisions to the text in the official manuals (which are communicated using the process described in Team Updates).

The responses in the Q&A do not supersede the text in the manual, although every effort will be made to eliminate inconsistencies between the two. While responses provided in the Q&A may be used to aid discussion at each event, per section 9 Inspection & Eligibility and section 6.7 Head REFEREE and FTA Interaction, REFEREES and INSPECTORS are the ultimate authority on rules. If you have concerns about enforcement trends by volunteer authorities, please notify FIRST at [email protected]. 

The Q&A is not a resource for firm predictions on how a situation will play out an event. Questions about the following will not be addressed:

-        rulings on vague situations,

-        challenging decisions made at past events, or

-        design reviews of a ROBOT system for legality.

Weak questions are overly broad, vague, and/or include no rule references. Some examples of questions that will not be answered in the Q&A are:

-        Is this part/design legal?

-        How should the REFEREE have ruled when this specific game play happened?

-        Duplicate questions

-        Nonsense questions

Good questions ask generically about features of parts or designs, gameplay scenarios, or rules, and often reference one or more relevant rules within the question. Some examples of questions that will likely be answered in the Q&A are:

-        A device we are considering using on the ROBOT comes with purple AWG 40 wire, does this comply with R?? and R??

-        We’re not sure how to interpret how Rule G?? applies if blue ROBOT A does X and red ROBOT B does Y, can you please clarify?

-        If a ROBOT does this specific action, is it doing what this defined term is describing?

Questions from “FRC 99999” represent content asked by key volunteers (e.g., REFEREES, INSPECTORS, etc.), answered by FIRST, and are considered relevant to teams.