FRCTools

R301       *COTS MECHANISMS are legal but have limits. COTS MAJOR MECHANISMS (as defined in I301) purposefully designed to complete a game task are prohibited. Allowed exceptions to this rule are:

A.      COTS drive CHASSIS, provided none of the individual parts violate any other rules, and

B.      COTS MAJOR MECHANISMS created as part of the official FIRST Tech Challenge Starterbots.

COTS parts are intended to help teams design and build ROBOT MECHANISMS to complete game tasks and solve challenges but are not intended to be purpose-built complete bolt-on out-of-the-box solution to complete game objectives.

Similar Rules

Rule R303
R303       *COTS must be single DoF. COTS COMPONENTS and MECHANISMS must not exceed a single degree of mechanical freedom (DoF). Examples of allowed COTS single degree of freedom MECHANISMS and COMPONENTS are as follows:
Rule I204
I301          *It is your team’s ROBOT. The ROBOT and its MAJOR MECHANISMS must be built by the FIRST Tech Challenge team that has registered for the event and intends to use the ROBOT to participate in MATCHES or as part of judged awards.
Rule R302
R302       *Legal COTS parts and raw materials can be modified. Allowed raw materials and legal COTS parts can be modified (drilled, cut, painted, etc.) as long as no other rules are violated.
Rule R306
R306       *SCORING ELEMENTS are not allowed for ROBOT construction. Current season SCORING ELEMENTS or replicas of SCORING ELEMENTS are not allowed to be used as part of ROBOT construction or for any other team supplied SCORING ELEMENTS.