Questions AFTER Shipping

[EricH]

Originally Posted by MikePres

1) We painted (with spray) parts of our robot in red. that's probably a problem, right?

Depends on the shade. Bring some tape to cover it if the inspectors think it's an issue.

2) Does reserve/replacement parts considered part of the 40 pound we can bring with us to the competition? Does spare batteries (in addition to that we sent with the robot) are part of that weight? what about bumpers?

If they're fabricated items, they count. Batteries count if they haven't had their leads removed. Bumpers count. COTS items that aren't modified don't count.

3) Most of the structures in our robot are built with materials we found in our school (polls and stuff) - how should we evaluate their cost?

You can a) ask the school or b) find a commercial price--I believe the actual term is "fair market value".

4) if we sent our robot already and forgot to do the BOM and costs, how are we supposed to evaluate the cost of things...?

Go by memory, print out the list before competition, and write down anything that you missed when you get there.

[GaryVoshol]

See Team Update 15 - Batteries don't count against the witholding allowance anymore.

[Justin Stiltner]

Batteries do not count in your withholding allowance via update 15.

Make your prices based on equivalent materials, For instance if you cut up an old flag pole to use the tubing, don't price out a flag pole (unless you used it for one) price out aluminum tube that is the same or very close size. As you could have made it from that tube if you had it, but you already had that flag pole. This will save you some budget allowance on some parts.

www.mcmaster.com <Mcmaster Carr industrial supply

They will probably have a price for just about everything you used use pricing from your local home center for wood items, etc. This is very general and would work in most cases, however find an item that is as close as you can get to the actual part for your pricing.