[dcbrown]

<R26>
During the period between the shipment of the ROBOT and the competitions: During this period, all teams may manufacture SPARE, REPLACEMENT, and UPGRADE PARTS, and develop software for their ROBOT at their home facility.
A.
Teams may manufacture all the SPARE, REPLACEMENT and UPGRADE PARTS they want.
B.
There is no limit to the amount of time that may be put into this effort, other than via the realities of the calendar.
C.
Teams may continue development of any items retained under the WITHHOLDING ALLOWANCE, continue to work on them during this period, and then bring them to the competition events.
D.
The total weight of the FABRICATED ITEMS (SPARE, REPLACEMENT, and UPGRADE PARTS, plus all WITHHOLDING ALLOWANCE items) worked upon during this period and brought to the competition event(s) must not exceed the limits specified in Rule <R36>.
The primary intent of this rule is to allow teams to withhold the ROBOT control system, the OPERATOR CONSOLE, and selected relevant subsystems, and access them after the shipping deadline. This will allow teams to have the maximum time possible prior to each competition event to develop and complete the software for their ROBOT while maximizing the potential to understand and use the capabilities provided by the new control system.

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"The primary intent of this rule is to allow teams to withold the ROBOT control system..."

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It could be spelled out better I suppose, but the intent is there. In R25 it states:

"The entire ROBOT (including all FABRICATED ITEMS intended for use during the competition in alternative configurations of the ROBOT) must be crated and out of team hands by the shipment deadline specified in Section 4.10 (with the exception of the items covered by the WITHHOLDING ALLOWANCE)."

But unfortunately I couldn't find any succinct list of cRIO, sidecar, etc. -- for example what does "relevant subsystems" in R26 really cover? Sounds like someone should ask for clarification... but as it stands the cRIO itself seems to be covered as being allowed in the WITHHOLDING ALLOWANCE. Of course it then counts towards the total 40 lbs limit specified in R36.