Thank you for the kind words Mr. Betts, I'm sure that many teams will find your dissertation useful. For those who are curious, my team uses
Ultra Cable from Street Wires for connections to motors in the kit. It is made from tinned copper but looks like aluminum wire.
My concern with the aluminum wire answer from the Q/A is that there is no rule backing up the answer. Perhaps I am misinformed but the Q/A system does not make rules, it just clarifies them. Rules come from the manual. Rule changes come from team updates. This year I will be a robot inspector at the Boston Regional. Therefore, if a team comes to the Boston Regional with a robot with aluminum wires have they broken a rule?