Originally Posted by EricH (Post 1211881)

More to the point, can a frame damage the carpet?

It's also not terribly difficult to put some plastic on the bottom of a metal frame using countersunk screws or appropriate adhesive.


To answer the original question: If you have designed your robot to play the game in such a way that you do not need to move, I would say that you have satisfied the rules. (I would like to note that I have seen a wheelless robot take the field before, but it's been several years and a slight rule change on the definition of robot since that happened.)

Originally Posted by jminer19363 (Post 1211749)

So my team is debating on whether to have wheels or not. In the rules, it says, "The Robot must include all of the basic systems required to be an active participant in the game - power, communications, control, mobility, and actuation."

Does climbing count as mobility or would the lack of wheels be illegal?

Originally Posted by JesseK (Post 1211884)

'No wheels' is a perfectly good way to save weight for a flier. So is the properly-dimensioned 'L' shaped robot -- no bumpers needed on half of the robot, so the weight savings is a big plus. We hadn't thought of such a base until we saw it in Q&A.

Originally Posted by Tao (Post 1212435)

On topic though, my team was (jokingly)thinking of making a cube that sits there and then climbs. It would be interesting, although you'd have to be able to touch your pyramid so you don't get bumped out of position without consequence.

Originally Posted by Tao (Post 1212435)

We were debating bumpers on an relatively L-shaped robot on a different thread: http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=110770
Any more interpretation on the 'no bumpers needed' comment with regards to the posts on the thread?

On topic though, my team was (jokingly)thinking of making a cube that sits there and then climbs. It would be interesting, although you'd have to be able to touch your pyramid so you don't get bumped out of position without consequence.

Originally Posted by Whippet (Post 1216821)

I think it would be safe to say that you do not need bumpers on the inside corners of an L-shaped robot.

Originally Posted by Chris is me (Post 1216822)

Why wouldn't you? What about that image implies it's okay to not have bumpers on the inside corner?

What that image DOES show is that an L-shaped robot's FRAME PERIMETER would be different than you expect. Concave frame perimeters aren't valid.

Originally Posted by CalTran (Post 1216824)

I believe he's saying an L shaped robot like the one in the bottom right corner of the figure.

Originally Posted by PAR_WIG1350 (Post 1216869)

Exactly, the image shows that all corners of the frame perimeter must have bumpers on both sides. It is impossible to have an inside corner to a frame perimeter so there is no sense in talking about them.

Originally Posted by CalTran (Post 1216878)

Perhaps I'm misunderstanding something here, but isn't it all external frame corners? The 'bot in the bottom right corner does have an inside corner that's un-bumpered?

Originally Posted by RRLedford (Post 1214051)

The flipping or "rolling" up the corner edge with alternating short grip arms is how we are prototyping to go up the pyramid. Our style of gripper will not need to squeeze hard or damage the power coated tubes. The angle formed by the intersecting horizontal tubes is how/where we will grip, avoiding the slope tube entirely.

We will be able to grasp next higher level BEFORE releasing from one below. We will not tip or swivel around laterally, because our grasp mechanism will bridge across the two intersecting horizontal tubes, yet avoid contacting the slope tube.

We will not drive; only shoot 2or 3 in autonomous. We may hoist others up, if we can keep hoist near enough to level rungs to have partner(s) bump them on the way up. They may have to extend some to snag our hook, since we can only lower it so much, but even if we only pull them up to the 20 pt. level, that is a nice bonus for a no driving bot to make.

The robot will be kind of vertically notched so it can straddle the corner edge tube at match start, allowing center of mass to be starting nearer to the initial gripping points.

-Dick Ledford