Quote:
Originally Posted by BrentJ
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But use them on the 2009 robot and they become illegal as other teams outside the Midwest can't buy these COTS at the same price. From reading of the rules if a COTS part can not be brought by all teams for the same price then it can't be used? 
Am I reading the rules correctly? |
Close... Elgin has explained the cost accounting rule, above, but what you may be looking at regarding disallowing parts in "future years" has to do with the availability of the part... not the price of the part.
For instance under existing rules the gearbox from the 2006 and 2007 kit of parts (manufactured by IFI, if I recall) is no longer allowed to be used because it is no longer a COTS part.... you can't buy one at any price. That is why AndyMark keeps some of their older transmissions available for sale. You do, of course, have to price the part at the current COTS price.
Also if you modify or improve a COTS part in a given year, then it is no longer "COTS" and cannot be re-used in future years.
So long as the part were to remain available on a COTS basis, it could be re-used for many years... regardless of whether it was purchased at full-price, a discounted price or donated. But as soon as that specific part was no longer available on a COTS basis,
then it would be disallowed.
Jason