Quote:
Originally Posted by Ether
Using common sense as a guiding principle, would it be permissible to apply a thin film of non-curing thermal grease to the mounting surface of the new Victor SP (or Talon SRX) before bolting it to the robot?
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Regardless of what somebody tells you is okay on the internet, any common sense interpretation of a rule is not guaranteed to be enforced equally between events.
Common sense to an engineer who designs speed controller would dictate that thermal compound is just fine.
Common sense to an inexperienced robot inspector who has no background in this matter might say that this is illegal.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jon Stratis
It's not a question about "what rules you don't need to follow"... it's about reading the rules for both the letter and intent of the law and using common sense in interpreting them.
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Unfortunately, I do not know the intent of the rule. I'd like to think that FIRST encourages teams to reuse parts from previous years, but in the past FIRST has required use to be wasteful with certain aspects of robot development.
Also, that's not a good enough answer for a team paying $5,000 to compete. An official who is in a bad mood can say "nope, you're wrong" and because they are the highest authority, there is nothing that you can do about it. It also makes things unfair, as different events will have different rules, as not everybody interprets things the same way, especially confusing. For example, nobody can describe the difference between defensive and offensive possession in words, so there will always be disagreements based on interpretation.
Putting in the clarifying sentence (not in a blue box, those things are evil) "Trimming or stripping wires on speed controllers or motors is not considered a modification for the purposes of G-(??)" takes under a minute to write, and helps everybody.