R22 and previous year's designs

[Gary Dillard]

It looks like the wording of this rule is similar to past years, but I didn't see any discussion of a particular aspect of it, and none of the specific examples in the rule cover it.

<R22> No final design, fabrication, or assembly of any elements intended for the final ROBOT is permitted prior to the Kick-off presentation.

Please note that this means that FABRICATED ITEMS from ROBOTS entered in previous FIRST competitions may not be used on ROBOTS in the 2011 FRC.

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Since is very clear that the "No .... Fabrication ...." part means you can't use parts fabricated for previous competitions, it would seem that the "No Design ..." part means you can't use detail designs from previous competitions. So if your team designed an omni wheel or mecanum wheel for a previous year, you can't use that design this year. Even example 3 which says you can't use a 2010 software "design" modified in the fall doesn't explicitly say you could use it if you didn't change it. Note that the last example's wording is cutoff - I would guess it is the same example as last year which implies that you can use any design (past year's or pre-season) if you post it as open source so other teams can use it.

So my interpretation of this rule is, if you want to use a design that you used from a previous robot (arm, wheel, structure, whatever), then you have to post the details in open source (team website, CD ?) sufficiently for other teams to copy it.

I think that is in the spirit of FIRST, such that veteran teams who don't have to take the time during build season to design something share that knowlege with other teams to create a more even field.

Agree or disagree?