Quote:
Originally Posted by Bob Steele
...I believe it is still just a part of the effort to level the playing field for all teams.
One could argue against nearly any restriction in this way...but having some guidelines is not really that bad. We have limitations on pneumatics and the use of the control system... ... it is just part of the game and the challenge.
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Yeah, I get that and think it's a reasonable thing to do, just seems like they could go about it in a way that's much less confusing for new teams to figure out. To limit motors by part numbers on one hand and application on the other sends mixed signals.
I had read about the auto salvage thing in the past and got the impression the rule might have just been pulled from the past as it was something they already had on file. I'd still like to see it re-written to better explain what exactly their intent was in bringing that rule back from the dead. If they're trying to limit motor size/power since the automotive applications they listed tend to have fairly similar motors, that's a perfectly good reason, but not really a good way to state it as there's probably still some crazy motor out there in that application if someone wanted to look hard enough.
It's like saying you can wear jeans as long as they are Levis, Wrangler, or Sonoma brand (part numbers), or any jeans that are blue (automotive application). So I can wear black Levis (becaues of brand), and blue Lucky brand (because of color), but not black Lucky brand, even though they're all essentially the same jeans. I can find the same motor with a different part number as a window motor, but it's not legal unless I can somehow prove it's the same motor.
I apologize for all the ranting, it's just been a frustrating week as our team is burning build time trying to understand the rules instead of building our robot. We've had to delay ordering the parts we're looking at because of this technicality, but every day we delay is another day behind we are on getting parts shipped.