Banebots transmissions from 2007 KOP OK for 2008?

[FRC1001]

Are Banebots 56 mm transmissions (GP-56012) as provided in the 2007 Kit Of Parts OK to use for the 2008 robot?

It seems they should be OK because they were available " off the shelf " in 2007 as a standard item from Banebots, but we are a little unclear because they are no longer available from Banebots (although they are selling something very similar).

We think <R36> would approve of the use of the Banebots transmission because it
a) was provided in the 2007 KOP
b) is a COTS mechanism, no longer available
(therefore <R36> applies)

and
-is unmodified from its originally delivered condition
-was not "custom made" for FIRST, although likely was the target market
-satisfies the other rules for 2008 parts

It seems that since I am an engineer, and not a lawyer, by definition in section 8.3, my interpretation of these rules must be correct. :-)

The part of the rules that makes the team a little uncertain is that 2006 transmissions are explicitly prohibited, and it isn't completely clear why. I assume it is because those transmissions were special made for the 2006 KOP and were not commercially available otherwise (but I don't really know, because I don't remember what I ate for breakfast, let alone who made what transmissions for whom in 2006). Perhaps they were cited as an example meant to illustrate that all transmissions previously provided in the KOP are prohibited. I didn't take it that way, but just want to be sure.

Evaluating the "spirit" component of the rules, we feel slightly guilty for not mining our own ore and making the transmissions from scratch, but that is just way beyond our team's resources. ;-) That aside, the design the kids put together works great with the banebots transmissions, and not so great with the AndyMark ones we got this year (which are otherwise awesome), so we would like to use the more compact planetary design, and reusing the parts from last year puts it within our budget (and I'm talking about cash outlay budget, not the <R26> Bill of Materials budget). The design would also work just fine with the current Banebots product line (P80A-43-0005-R2), perhaps even better, so we don't feel we are taking advantage of a part that is not available to other teams. Just being cheap.

Please advise if our logic is correct.

Thanks much,
David Fort
Rockwell Automation
Team 1001 Mentor
Brush High School
Lyndhurst, Ohio USA

[GDC]

The BaneBots planetary transmissions (like those provided in the 2007 KoP) are commercially available and any revision may be used. The commercial version of the gearbox includes required quality improvements, however the fundamental functionality remains unchanged. The 2006 transmissions are not commercially available and therefore may not be used.