R40 precludes fabricating a circuit board?

[Joe Ross]

<R40> Additional electronic components for use on the robot must be either COTS items, or assembled from COTS items. Additional electronic components include any object that conducts electricity other than IFI relays and speed controllers, wires, connectors and solder.

I take this to mean that we can't design and have PCBexpress fabricate a circuit board for us. The definition of VENDOR basically says that if a vendor fabricates the item, it counts as a fabricated item and not is not COTS.

Anyone else see this any differently?

I guess the alternative is to buy a protoboard and wire it ourselves.

[Chris Hibner]

I remember a ruling from past years that a PCB amounts to a piece of plastic with wires on it. I don't know if this still holds or not.