I know that for an official answer with respect to this years rules we need to ask the FIRST Q&A, however, I am looking for info from teams on what was and wasn’t included in their cost accounting in previous years. (I have asked the same at the FIRST Q&A for the official answer.) Here is my question:
For the purposes of cost accounting (Section 8.3.3 of the Robot section of the manual), what is considered in the Kit of Parts? Just the stuff that came in the boxes we were given at Kickoff or is the other “free stuff” available to all teams from the various sponsoring suppliers considered Kit of Parts?
Example 1) The free Bimba cylinders. They are not in the KoP boxes but we are all allowed to choose 3 that fit our needs for free. Have you included these in your cost accounting in the past?
Example 2) The wonderful people at Igus gave us all a nice bag full of misc. plastic bearings, aluminum shaft, etc. Included in that bag was a printed catalog with the specs of all the parts in the bag and inside the back cover was a description of their Y.E.S. (Young Engineers Support) program which includes FIRST. Through the Y.E.S. program, as I understand it, FIRST teams can request additional quantities of the stuff that came in the bag in the Kit of Parts as well as additional items from Igus’ product line. If you have used the Y.E.S. program in the past have you included the list price of the additional items you received from Igus in your cost accounting? Is this any different than the free pneumatic cylinders from Bimba in example #1.