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Originally Posted by Jaxom
Yes, I have no problem saying that I don't think this is part of team A's robot. To whom the mechanism belongs is irrelevant; what matters imo is to which robot that mechanism is attached. The part we're discussing clearly is not a ROBOT itself; it doesn't have "...all of the basic systems....". In fact, it's not even one of those basic systems; blocking shots is not required to play this year's game.
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I would point out the following:
This device is clearly designed as part of a robot to play the game Ultimate Ascent. It is not a ROBOT itself, but it is quite clearly part of one. I think we can agree on that.
So, Team A has brought a ROBOT, which ROBOT has a part that is not necessarily mounted on Team A's robot although it appears in every Team A match, mounted on a robot. The question is, is that part still part of Team A's robot? Your answer is that for any given match, the answer is "No" (assuming of course that the part is not actually on Team A's robot). My answer is "Yes", because while it does not appear on Team A's robot in every match, they are the ones using it every match (though their partners are presumably quite willing participants). On a per-match basis, you are quite correct. Over the entire event, I think it becomes less and less arguable that this device is actually part of Team A's robot, when it appears on Team B, Team C, Team D, Team E, and so on, only when they are on an alliance with Team A (and in no other matches).
Inspections are currently on a per-match basis.
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I hope I'm staying within the fruit category again  ; how about this: Team A has a problem with their digital sidecar, and borrows one from team B next door, who has a spare. Later in the day, they get their own replacement & swap out team A's part for the one that belongs to them. The next morning, team C needs a sidecar & borrows the same sidecar from team A. I don't think anyone would consider the sidecar part of team A's robot even if they are on the field at the same time as the sidecar, both times. I also don't think anyone would find any problem with that scenario whatsoever. If you think it's unrealistic for team B to swap out a sidecar twice, substitute whatever part you'd like.
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I don't think anyone would consider the sidecar part of team A's robot, either--mainly because presumably they have one on there that's functional. If they swapped their only one, I would expect that Team A would get the GP award for sacrificing their robot performance to assist their partners. Sidecars are almost a required component.
The trick with Fabricated vs COTS is that a COTS item can probably be put on just about any robot that has a spot for it with no modification. Most robots would have spots for sidecars, cRIOs, Jaguars, Victors, Talons, batteries, etc. Those are all COTS parts. But if I have a robot with bumpers and you have a robot with bumpers and we need to swap for some reason, we probably won't be able to do that without modification, because chances are our Fabricated Items do not have the same mounting system at all. Fabricated Items tend to be custom for a particular robot (or two or three, for collaborations and practice robots), requiring some modification to robot or item to mount to another robot.
I agree, this is a very interesting discussion. Maybe next year we'll see some resolution in the game design. (I also think it relates to the "win match or win tournament" meta-game discussions, where the right answer is "both!".)