Purchase/Prebuild - What's the difference?

[dlavery]

Originally Posted by mechanicalbrain

I have two questions. Can you use pieces you have prepared for use? Like if i had a 1" by 2" piece of Plexiglas and i cut it in half in preparation for the robot is it OK? Also what are the rules on reusing pieces? I want to reuse the electrical enclosure that I'm making next year. Ill remove everything in the box even take the box apart into its components but i want to reuse it.

...and the correct answer is: NO ONE KNOWS!

It has been said before many times, but it bears repeating again - you can NOT assume that last year's rules for a certain situation will still be valid for the same situation next year. Elements of the robot construction and materials use rules are modified every year based on changes in the available materials, alterations in the kit of parts, design changes forced by the game, venue limitations, refinement of the "legal use" definitions, to prevent teams from obtaining an unfair advantage by starting construction prior to kick-off, and just to play with our minds. Assuming that you can prepare parts prior to kick-off, or re-use parts from last year, is tempting the fates. The very fact that parts are rumored to be being re-used may be sufficient reason for the rule-makers to change a rule to prevent the re-use of that very part (not that they would ever be that devious! ).

-dave