Also, no where in the rules does it say COTS parts have to be purchased after any particular time (for example Kickoff). We have one complete, unused KitBot and most of the parts for a second one that have been purchased separately at various times over the past 3 years. I don't find any rule stating that we can't use the old KitBot materials even from 3 years ago as long as we haven't cut/modified them (fabricated) and IFI is now still selling them after Kickoff (as COTS) so that any team could buy the same if they wanted to. We would, of course, have to declare the current purchase cost on our cost accounting/BoM at inspection but nothing I have read limits when the purchase has to have occured. No team buys all new raw stock each year and throws out all their unused aluminum/plastic/etc. left over from the previous year so why should the KitBot be any different? In fact, as far as I can tell a veteran team that didn't use their issued KitBot from some previous year that say just stuck the box on the shelf and built a custom frame that year would be perfectly legal to pull that old IFI KitBot box off the shelf and use it this year if they wanted to as long as they accounted for it in their cost analysis.
If it is FIRST's intent to not allow teams to use the IFI KitBot this year they better hurry up and define that in the rules. If they did I think it would be rather un-GP of FIRST to single out one specific COTS part from one specific vendor and make it illegal. It would also further add to the rumors regarding the IFI/FIRST split.
This is sort of why I was asking the questions I did in
this thread. Both the AndyMArk C-Base and the IFI KitBot retail for ~$190. Both are basically functionally the same. Why come out with something new if it isn't better or cheaper? FIRST has to have a reason but why?