[eugenebrooks]

We don't have this years rules, yet, so lets look at last years rules:

<R68> Additional Parts must be generally available from suppliers such that any other FIRST team, if it so desires, may also obtain them at the same price. (A specific device fabricated by a team from non-2004 Kit materials does not have to be available to others, however, the materials it is made from must be available to other teams.)

1) Suppose that a small business makes 30 of some part (prior to the build period) and offers them for sale to FIRST teams for use in their robot. Does this satisfy R68 above? Does the fact that only 30 exist, to be served up to teams on a first come first served basis satisfy this rule? If 200 teams want the part, and only 30 exist, is there a problem? This is not a cut and dry question in that a "generally available part" from several suppliers can run into a shortage of supply, although large numbers are produced during the year.

2) Suppose a team plans to make 30 of something, during the build period, while needing only one. It them offers the extras for sale to other teams who could make use of them. This would seem to be a different situation in that a team has made them during the build period, and therefore the "generally avaialble from suppliers" rule seems to have an exception. The team markets the parts made during the build period to other teams, and uses the proceeds to fund their team efforts for the year. What about this situation, which is quite different than the one above?

3) If the two situations above are not enough to worry about, suppose a team wants to get a head start on their robot for 2005, and starts a business to make gear boxes, wheels, and other "off the shelf parts." The team makes a few, keeps what it needs for the 2005 season, and then offers the rest for sale on the internet. Such a team would get an incredible head start on its robot, and would make some profit on the extra parts that would help pay for the rest of the teams costs. Rest assured that I am not accusing anyone of this, but this seems to be the next logical development after 1) and 2) above.

In years prior to the 2004 season, the rules allowed teams to pay machine shops to fabricate critical parts, as has been referred to by other posters in this thread. The following is what was in the 2004 rules:

<R09> Teams must fabricate and/or assemble all custom parts and assembled mechanisms on the robot by the 2004 team after the start of the Kick-off. Mechanisms from previous year’s robots may not be used, however, individual off-the-shelf components from previous year’s robots may be re-used to save the cost of re-purchase of these parts IF they meet ALL of the 2004 Additional Parts and Materials Rules.

Just what did "Teams must fabricate" mean in 2004? If a team paid a custom machine shop to fabricate something for their robot, and the custom machine shop was not a "team member" and did not "wear the team shirt", so to speak, was this within the 2004 rules?

I would hope that questions such as these are directly addressed when FIRST first posts the 2005 rules, along with the 2005 game. These questions are not all that hypothetical these days.

I salute any small business devoted to FIRST, but the rules do not seem to be so clear cut as one might think, and we don't even know the rules for 2005 yet, which can change in significant ways relative to the rules we have seen in the past competitions.