Remembering that there are multiple parts of the rule book, I checked
Section 10 - At The Events
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Specific hours are necessary to provide teams with equal work time. Please be aware of the opening and closing hours of the Pit and Machine Shop posted on the agenda you receive in your Registration Packet. The Pit Administration staff will advise you of corrected hours.
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Section 10 also enumerates the hours that the Pits are open and when they are closed. This is a also a safety rule, in addition to a build rule. Having people up working on a robot at 4 am, then going to a competition at 7am and then staying up late working again is a BAD idea. When you operate with that little sleep your brain does not function properly. Drowsyness and powertools do not mix well.
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A local team's shop is clearly not expected to be on site, or anywhere in walking distance of the site.
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I know of a team in Richmond that is within walking distance of the VCU Regional, and there are likely more. At the LA regional in 2003, there was a shop that was traveled to the arena. I'm not positive of the details, but I believe that a team arraigned for the machine shop to be there. (Someone who knows about this please fill me in). There are also the teams that are able to afford decked out trailers that are complete machine shops that they tow to each regional they go to. These are team shops on site.
In addition, the hotel has not been announced as available to all teams. The hotel would most likely protest if any such announcement was made, or if teams showed up to do work. Saying that anyone could show up and do work is bunk, because it has not been offered for other teams to use. It is the same as a team going back to their shop to do work, but using the excuse "if any team showed up, they could use the shop." The
willingness to share is not the question, but the lack of the offer.
I say no, this is not legal. However, there should not be an asterisk by the name in the book though. There should not be a case where "they won, but..."
Wetzel