drawer / Mechanical
Commercial Off-The-Shelf — pre-made parts teams can buy rather than fabricate, within the rules.
also calledCommercial off-the-shelf
where you actually meet COTS
COTS is a rules category before it is a shopping decision — the manual defines what counts as commercially available and what you may modify. In practice it is how a small team fields a competitive robot: a bought swerve module or gearbox is one fewer thing to machine, and one fewer thing to debug at midnight the week before an event.
Free and structured, and none of them need an account to read.
3lessons
the jargon travels in packs
Mechanical
The components FIRST provides to every team each season as a starting point for the robot.
read the entryMechanical
A drivetrain where each wheel module can independently steer and drive, giving full omnidirectional movement.
read the entryCompetition & Game
The required check that a robot meets size, weight, safety, and rules before it can compete.
read the entryMechanical
A program giving teams credits to select specific Kit of Parts components from partner vendors.
read the entryCOTS is one of 70 entries in the catalogue. The guides are where these words get used in order, instead of one at a time.