[Cory]

Originally Posted by Oblarg

How is developing ties with a machine shop that offers to donate machining time ostensibly more consistent with the mission of FIRST than, say, developing ties with a tech company that offers to pay for said machining?

Why should one of these allow you to have a robot whose true cost is not reflected in the stated budget, but not the other?

If a tech company offers to pay for the machining I see no difference between that and a machine shop donating the labor directly. It's just the tech company donating the service in that case. I would argue parts made in either scenario could be used without accounting for FMV of the labor.