Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz
Count me as a resounding "NO" to any work on the 2005 robot before January 8, 2005.
|
I think we are all pretty much in agreement that there should be no work on the 2005 robot prior to kickoff. I believe the problem is deciding exactly where to draw the line at what is considered fabrication.
To take from the example above about team 4444 buying AM transmissions and team 8888 fabricating the exact same thing. This is a wonderful opportunity provided by AM and it is great that team 4444 has the resources to purchase these transmissions. However, say team 8888 does not have the same resources and can't afford the AM components. So they get a local machine shop to donate their time and build these components for them. They are built to the AM specifications, they just come from a different place. Now according to the rules (I think, I could be remembering it wrong) team 8888 could have the machine shop build after kickoff and still get the same benefit of the donated time and just include what it would have cost in the robot budget.
My question is why should team 8888 not be granted the same luxury as team 4444 just because they can't afford the AM transmissions. If team 4444 is following the rules then they can't use them until after kickoff, but they do have the benefit of having them on January 8th so they can begin fabrication immediately. Why does team 8888 not have the same right? Why should they have to wait for the machine shop to build the exact same part when they could already have it in their possession?
Let me know your thoughts.
-Kristin