2004 Electrical Component Rule Rationale

[Adam Y.]

The rule should mandate "electrical equivalence" for saftey reasons, but otherwise it's unessicarily restricting innovation.

No it isn't. Here is a list of sensors that you can have on your robot according to last year's rules.
Capacitance sensor (Basically it's a stud finder that measures distance)
Infrared range finders (manufactured by sharp)
Encoders
Metal Detectors (A very useful sensor ironically)
Ultrasonic range finder (A long shot and probably the most costly sensor here)
Mechanical switches
Infrared beacons
Infrared obstacle detectors
Current Sensor
Gyroscope

lol no kidding. I would love the facilities to make our own ICs.

Isn't that called a microchip. You can turn those little pic's into anything you want to. The startup cost is annoying since you need programmer and a compiler. Personally I feel that the rules are perfect the way they are. More than likely you are probably going to overengineer the problem if you don't stay within these rules. Also, building this robot is a challenge. You might as well have the electronics team do some type of fabrication which is in the realm of possiblity.