[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by Sixis

However, I am interested in some of the rules and aspects of the competition. For instance the parts restrictions seem to only stifle the creativity FIRST seems to otherwise promote. Yes, one could argue that by restricted the parts teams are allowed to use it forces them to really think and come up with something creative and unique, and that it may also be put in place to prevent the team with the largest budget and nicest parts from sweeping the rest of the competition. However i am somewhat disappointed that we are not allowed to use a wide variety of parts. Coming from a background in hobby robotics i saw many places where i could implement certain parts to aid in the operation of the robot, and make it less like a remote control toy.

What parts are you referring to? I can't really think of any time this season that I told myself "man, it would be awesome if I could use this part, too bad I can't"... Electric solenoids? Other compressors?

I think it's fair to say that one of the reasons FIRST has the part restrictions (and partnerships with companies like andymark) is based purely on economics reasons. Obviously without partners like andymark FIRST might not be able to provide the generous loans that it does however, one could see the monopolies FIRST has set up as reliant on economic reasons rather than restrictions forcing teams to be creative.

I think it's the other way around. FIRST makes rules, AM sells rules compliant yet quality products all in one place, rather than FIRST making rules to help AM sell products.