"Spare Parts" Rules Are Broken

[Matt Adams]

Originally Posted by R09

During the six week period following Kickoff: You may fabricate spare parts for replacement purposes of items on your robot as long as they are exact replacements for parts on the robot you shipped to the event. They must be brought to the event in a completely disassembled state as individual components (no bolt-on assemblies).

Originally Posted by Matt Adams

As best as I can tell, it looks like any "spare part" should not have any fasteners, which includes bolts, pins, set screws, string or keys.

I'm glad that we've got this out in the open as a refresher for teams that may be planning on bringing practice robots to the competition - it's not allowed unless it's completely disassembled.

I have to say I disagree with this intrepretation. Yes, I am disagreeing with my own opinion after a night of sleep.

I guess it comes down to the definition of "component."

I heard a plea from a college student on 1466 talking about making spare tracks for his drive system. To me, I think that's a really smart move, due to the amount of time it takes to create this tread. To me, tread is a "component" just like a roller on a small ball gatherer is, and just like a wheel with a couple plastic hubs are.

Below is a picture of our robot this year... I've highlighed the small ball roller that's used to pull the balls into the cage, our entire big ball arm, and the sprocket with a custom bolt on hub on the top of our big ball arm. One could possibly define either of these as "components" or "bolt on assemblies".


FIRST needs to clarify this formally before this weekend so everyone can play within the bounds of the intended rules.

Matt