Purchase/Prebuild - What's the difference?

[Stephen Kowski]

Originally Posted by Tristan Lall

Not that that's a bad rule, but like Bill Gold said, it's not an actual rule.

Just a thought....
If FIRST did choose to implement that restriction, teams wouldn't be able to stock up on parts in advance--a screw, a piece of aluminum angle, a gearbox--they would all have to be bought after the kickoff date. For the first two items, at least, that would be wholly impractical. But consider the implications of FIRST saying that every item with a legitimate value of less than $20 (USD) could be procured at any time, from any source; and furthermore, that raw materials could be bought in advance. All other materials would have to be bought after the kickoff. It would allow little things like hardware to be readied in anticipation for the season, while clearly requiring that the big items be built or bought after the kickoff.

Personally I would hope that all the teams would try to do their best to uphold the values of FIRST. Unfortunately to try to play on the possibilities of what could be done to circumvent the rules would be infinite....there are only so many things FIRST can control with these type of rules. This rule you propose is only effective if you assume everyone is doing their best to follow the rules. What happens when they try to circumvent those rules? well then we have to make another rule.....and around and around we go making up rules we do not have the resources to patrol...

If a team wanted to get around certain rules they could because FIRST doesn't have the resources to patrol this. Unfortunately you have to assume that ppl are going to do the right thing or else we all will dip down into a paranoid state....All I'm saying this rule you propose is simply unrealistic, and you must rely on the fact that people are doing positive things with this experience/opportunity....there are simply too many rules that people could find a loopholes in, and I am not prepared to go on a witch hunt for these types of rules....

This all goes back is the competition just a competition? Well then let's start clamping down or we can understand the competition is a portion but there are other parts to this (Chairman's Award/Engineering Inspiration)....you won't win either of these awards with an off-the-shelf part....the only possible benefit will occur in the competition, and if that is your only goal I personally believe you have missed something.