Rule M14

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Posted by Joe Johnson.   [PICTURE: SAME | NEW | HELP]


Engineer on team #47, Chief Delphi, from Pontiac Central High School and Delphi Automotive Systems.

Posted on 1/9/2000 7:20 PM MST



General Question For the Peanut Gallery:

What do you make of rule M14 (page 16 The Robot Appendix)?

Taken literally, this rule implies that at some point in time (perhaps at check in perhaps at inspection at you first competion, perhaps at the time you put your robot in the box), your robot is FROZEN -- no improvements at all can be made.

I know that some folks out there are saying, yes that is exactly what FIRST was ment to be, but I urge you all to read on.

Consider this. Suppose I have an aluminum part that I discover breaks every third match, but sadly, I discover this fact after the magic moment discussed above.

According to rule M14:

'...FUNCTIONALLY IDENTICAL replacement parts are allowed. FUNCTIONALLY IDENTICAL implies a part that is of THE SAME GEOMETRY, MATERIALS, ETC. AND NOT AN IMPROVED DESIGN.'

This rule seems to forbid doing anything to that part except replace it when it breaks! It seems to forbid something so easy as re-making the part out of steel for example.

Am I missing something?

Let's talk this one out a bit.

Joe J