[DougHogg]

Originally Posted by eugenebrooks

...
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.
...

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?
...

The 2004 accounting rules expand on the above rule:

<R78>
...
5.3.2.2 Cost Determination
The "cost" of each additional item is counted as follows:
...

• The total cost (materials + labor) of an item you pay someone else to make; Example: A team
orders a custom bracket fabricated by a vendor to the team's specification. The vendor's material
cost and normally charged labor rate apply.
...

• The cost of raw material obtained by a team + the cost of non-team labor expended to have the
material processed further. Team member processing labor is not included. Example: A team
purchases steel bar stock for $10.00 and has it machined by a local machine shop that donates its 2
hours of expended labor. The team must include the estimated normal cost of the labor as if it were
paid to the machine shop, and add it to the $10.00. Exception Examples: If the team members
themselves did the actual machining, there would be no associated labor cost. If the machine shop
were part of the team, its labor cost would not apply.

Also for the 2004 season, we had a team Q&A system where teams could post questions. However it seems to be offline at this point.