And then it hit me....

[nick reynolds]

OK. Heres how I see it as a possible solution. At the regionals we submit a parts list to the members of FIRST and then they inspect our Machines for safety and illegal parts. AT that time each team could submit four photos one of each side of their Robot along with their documentation.
At the end of each regional if a team has damage then a photo of that damage would be also submited. This then would be the only item a team would be alowed to repair, no other improvements would be permited. At the next regional that a team attends the people from FIRST would check the prior photos against the repaired Robot. Any robot that was shipped direct from one regional to another would be exempt from this inspection.
Any team that takes a Robot home with them would be responsible for all costs to the next event. This would also aply to the Nationals.
3 days is not going to make any difference to FIRST but it could be a huge difference ( Monitarily and psycologicaly ) to a desperate team in trouble. After all isnt Insperation a main goal, how insperational is a destroyed or damaged Robot sitting in a trash box going to be for next years teams.
Nick