[Killraine]

The problem with this whole system is the fact that the rules aren't written in a way that their intents are obvious. Never would I have imagined that the intent of the withholding allowance was to make us practice wiring batteries, but that is clearly what the GDC is trying to tell us through Q&A.

In addition, I don't think the whole GDC even has a clear agreed upon intent for every rule (see: muddled Q&A posts that disagree with each other.) If the rules are supposed to be about the intent and "spirit" of the rules, why not just release those intentions? Doesn't seem to complicated to me...

for example:

<R10> Robots entered into the 2009 FIRST Robotics Competition shall be fabricated and/or assembled from COMPONENTS, MECHANISMS and COTS items that are constructed from:
A. Items provided in the FIRST-supplied Kit Of Parts (or their exact REPLACEMENT PART)
B. Allowed additional parts and materials as defined in the rules, and in quantities consistent with the Budget Constraint rules (found in Section 8.3.3).

<R10> Intention: This rule is intended to ensure that all teams have a more equal opportunity in the construction of their robot.

Each and every rule should have a reason to be in the rulebook. FIRST should just include those for us. We're all mature, gracious professionals, how about we get treated as such?