pic: Bumper slices
 

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Great Idea. !!! Pink?

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I love this idea, simple and easy. Now if only my team could make a decent bumper...

Of course, one problem this doesn't solve is how to attach to the robot.

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The metal pieces looks like a nice idea. Our team just folds the fabric over and uses a staple gun thing to upholster the edge which works fantastically.

This also gave me the idea to make a cut out of bumpers with our team number on it to give to sponsors

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Bad lighting and color balance :)

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Ah, the pink is red and the red is blue. :yikes:

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Great idea! I think I wish the rookies in my state this year weren't all so far away.

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You mean "complementary lighting and appearance-correcting color balance" I love the Hotbotz-Pink!

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That is a noble goal, but remember that it is not only cross-section that defines a bumper. Make sure they cover the corners, and fasten them to their frame rigidly.

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Speaking of "making sure your bumpers are securely fastened"

at the Dallas Regional this year, in Elims we slammed a robot so hard all of their bumpers fell off (unintentionally).

Each trip to the feeder station included bumpy section as we navigated (drove over) the pile of bumpers in the way

Re: pic: Bumper slices
 

I love it. I'm gonna mention this to our team.

I also love the idea of showing rookies how to build bumpers.
Good stuff.

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I considered sinking a T-nut into the plywood per the manual's recommendation. I dropped this idea because (1) I haven't actually seen anybody use this attachment method effectively and (2) what am I, made of money?

On a per-slice basis:
Angle $0.58
Fabric $0.16
Wood screws $0.14
Medium-quality birch ply $0.12
Noodle $0.07
T-nut $0.27
HHCS $0.25

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Could always print a giant poster with Figure 4-4 on it to keep in the pits.

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Good goal. However, if you want to go further, prepare a bunch or backer boards, pool noodles, fabric, and fabric paint pens (white) already pre-cut to width (5" boards, 11-1/2" or so for the fabric) so that some bumpers could be rapidly assembled at events if they were needed. There are always one or two teams that miss something in the rules for the bumpers that probably cannot fix them at the event.

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Has anyone found a fast dry, easy and cheap to apply numbering method? I bought a bunch of fabric paint pens, but frankly, they do not work very well. While they do meet the "legal" interpretation of white outlined numbers, they are usually quite faint and barely legible.

Does anyone else have an inexpensive and fast method for bumper numbers?

Also, I usually only get 1 robot each year with a "cross section" issue. Usually it is using a 0.5" board or plywood instead of the 3/4".

Numbers, bumper height, and perimeter compliances (8" inimum or angle of wrap or...) tend to be the bigger issues I have seen.