Quote:
Originally posted by Norm M.
I agree with Andy. Greater availability of stock parts can level the field. In the past, there were teams that were making their own gears. Personally, I like being able to order them.
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Well, of course.
But, what falls within the 'stock parts' category? Sprockets, gears, chain, raw materials, etc. . .
what about that HVAC stuff? Hydraulic components? Pneumatics components? Air motors? AC Motors?
Surely, there needs to be
some limit. Having access to MSC's ability to stock more items is definitely a major improvement over SPI, but the amount of stuff available is almost overwhelming.
My concern would be in, say, buying additional motors. A financially solvent team could buy tons of motors for use on their robot. A money-strapped team could not, and could not likely manufacture them out of raw materials. So, is that still a level playing field?
Of course, I realize that there's likely a limit on motor and pneumatics usage. I'm just curious as to how far the limits will go.