Question on Using Motor Components

[Tristan Lall]

That's the fundamental question: does a part of a restricted component still count as that restricted component? If pressed on the issue at a competition, I'd likely assume no, based on the theory that the intent is to prohibit things used as motors, not parts of motors used as other things—but the rule is sufficiently open to interpretation that the meaning is unclear.

As for the battery example, if I were to take a KOP battery apart, clean all the electrolyte out and strip away the glass mats, keeping mainly the lead, then fill it with epoxy and re-seal the case, I wouldn't see any <R02> issue. (Maybe I just wanted to add weight, and didn't think of the million better ways to do that.) It looks like a battery, but it's not, and I mount it on the robot. Of course I also put a real battery on the robot too, because I like my robot to move. Am I in violation of <R55>? Is that thing a battery for the purposes of the rules?

Now, consider the same sort of thought experiment, but with a motor. I pull the brushes out of an enormous 2 kW DC motor, and hook it up to my robot. I'm using it as a flywheel. Legal? (And what if I did the same thing with my 5^th CIM?)

What I'm getting at is that we're sure FIRST doesn't want us using restricted components for their intended purposes, but there's also a possibility that they don't want us using them in other unforeseen ways.

Using a magnet from the inside of a motor is at the other end of the spectrum to be sure, but it's just a variation on the same question.