[Gary Dillard]

Let me propose a rules change for next year that addresses the issue of cost of shipping only, for those who want to stay within the intent; it would be impossible to enforce and relies on GP, but so do many other rules:

Spare subassemblies fabricated during the 6 week build period may be crated/boxed and sealed prior to the ship date and carried to the competition in lieu of shipping in the robot crate.

This would allow teams to build complex robots and spare parts but not have to foot the cost of shipping the spares.

Noone currently watches us uncrate our robot; noone would know if our spares were in the crate or in a box next to it that we brought with us - it's enforced by GP. This change would only help those who stay within the rules anyway by cutting a shipping cost.