[dtengineering]

Is the COTS polycarbonate hinge legal?

Ask schrodinger's cat. Until the Q&A rules on it, the hinge is both legal and illegal.

According to the letter of the rule, as laid out, right now... I believe they are legal. At the very least, they are not specifically illegal.

But what you are seeing here is a number of FRC veterans reading that rule and putting it in to the context of previous GDC rulings over the past several years, and making a reasonable interpretation as to the intent of the rule.... and I believe they are correct. I believe the hinge, in the context of the rules and previous GDC decisions, is illegal.

So until someone opens the box, by asking the Q&A or undergoing tech inspection, the hinge, like the cat, is both alive and dead.

Jason

P.S. I don't want to imply that your robot is "legal" just because you've passed tech inspection. It is quite possible that you passed tech due to an oversight by your inspector that will require adjustment at some future point of time.