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Originally Posted by Andrew
If a team shows up at competition with an entire robot, which they supposedly built in three days, I think eye-brows will be raised. Assuming that FIRST maintains the $3500 limit and requires included costs of fabrication, the bill of materials for this "spare" + the costs of the original robot would have to fit into such a limit.
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Not quite...as noted
here
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Originally Posted by Mike
...per rule R75 the spending limit was $3500 last year. Rule R76 states that spare parts are excluded from the $3500 cap.
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Originally Posted by Andrew
...Per my original proposal (which probably won't be adopted by FIRST anyway, so don't worry), you would only be able to fabricate for three days prior to ONE regional. If you go to multiple competitions, you potentially lose out as your robot accumulates damage that cannot be repaired. This would at least make it a trade-off on whether to go to multiple competitions. Right now, if you can afford it, there is no down-side to attending multiple regionals. It's all good.
What I meant by "level playing field" is that all teams would be following the same set of rules. In the past several years, teams have had the lee-way to interpret the rules to their advantage and to find gray areas in the rules that allow them to justify their activity.
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I, too, would love for a more "level playing field" (as defined above), but I'm not sure if this would make that much of a dent. "Level playing field" I take as to include other things. Things that are supposed to be common for all teams; Kit of parts, starting size/shape, maximum weight, the length of the build season....
Limiting the time for post-ship spares to be fabricated, regardless off the number of competitions seems to be a step in the right direction. By itself however, is not enough. It does nothing to counter the use of multiple regionals to fabricate, tune, and debug. It is this additional competition time that seems to doom the potential of a real 6 week build season. I'm not trying to necessarily pass judgment one way or another on this, just point out what I see as the root issue.
-bill