I dunno, I went in to a losers' melee with one wheel working and won. I only had 15-20 minutes for repairs and it wasn't enough to get the problem repaired (compared to 1+ hour repair time for my opponents). But not being counted out allowed me to progress in the competition. I personally don't think it's a waste of a fight; if my fully-mobile opponents cannot defeat a handicapped robot then that's their problem, and the crowd usually get a kick out of the underdog making it through.

Craig, the figure of eight rule only really applies if it's an extremely close judges' decision. So not being able to do the figure of eight at the start shouldn't lead to that robot being counted out as the handicapped robot can still take the win through its opponent beating itself/driving in the pit etc.

The only way it can be fair to count a robot out right from the start due to only having one wheel is if all robots have equal repair time. Otherwise I think you should be allowed to fight and let the battle take its course. No match involving a one-wheeled robot is a foregone conclusion.