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Unread 15-12-2004, 22:08
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Re: YMTC: Redabot weighs 129.8?

Quote:
That's a symptom of the real problem--a badly conceived rule. There's no universal way of determining whether their extra drill is a spare part, mounted on the mechanism for convenience (where it is legal) or a part of the mechanism (where it is illegal, due to weight). You could take the naïve approach, and say, "well, it's attached to the mechanism, so it mustn't be legal", but that comes down to a silly semantic argument as to when something is part of something else, and when it's a separate entity. Note that they (properly) pass the weigh-in, because they know that a mechanism or part need not be attached to the robot to be part of its official weight (e.g. the two function modules--which probably can't be attached at the same time).
I'll take that one up. I don't think it's a silly semantic argument. You can't say that the extra motor is a spare part mounted for convenience, because it's mounted and already hooked into the system. If you can put a battery across it and the whole assembly jumps, it's not really a spare part anymore.

Also, to say that it's a spare mounted for convenience is to be disingenuous at best. It's tantamount to pre-emptively swapping the original motor for its spare everytime you change assemblies. And then swapping right back to the old motor when you're done with that mechanism. And doing that several times per regional. It doesn't really sound like a spare anymore after that.

This is in contrast to, say, mounting a spare breaker or victor on the robot somewhere. That spare isn't in the system till you connect it. And you only swap it in when something breaks. Of course, it still counts against your weight. I think it still counts against your weight even if it is a spare, really. So long as it's attached to your robot.

EDIT: Swapped paragraphs for clarity.
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Last edited by Kevin Sevcik : 15-12-2004 at 22:12.
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