Originally Posted by Cory (Post 1459046)

I hope you're not planning on building a can grabber then...prepare to be disappointed if you think you can win that arms race with a mechanism that takes more than .25s to secure the can.

Originally Posted by magnets (Post 1459043)

.2 seconds to engage the hook, sure, but the containers will likely still be on the step, unmoved, for some time after that.

.2 seconds is less than the amount of time it takes for an object to fall 8 inches in free fall. Pick up a pencil, and drop it from the height of a foot. That's not much time to move your hook 6+ feet, wait for the hook to engage/settle, and begin backing up the robot.

Originally Posted by FRC Game Manual Update, 3/17/15

Team Update 2015-03-17

General Updates

This note is from Frank Merrick, Director of FRC.

Hello teams. Yesterday we answered a question on the Q&A, Q461, related to sharing parts and mechanisms between teams, that has created a great deal of controversy. Seeing your concerns, and after significant additional discussion, we are reversing ourselves on our original answer, and making updates to the manual to support that reversal, bringing greater alignment between the manual and common practices at events. We want teams to provide very strong support to each other at events, and while reasonable, knowledgeable, caring people may disagree with ‘how much is too much’, and it’s hard to define a bright line, we don’t want to chill the tremendous spirit of mutual support that is an essential part of FIRST culture. We’re sorry for the issues our original answer caused, it was a mistake.

Originally Posted by FRC Game Manual Update, 3/17/15

Game Manual

Section 4.2 - General ROBOT Design

R14 R1 requires that the ROBOT a Team uses in competition was built by that Team, but isn’t intended to prohibit assistance from other Teams (e.g. fabricating elements, supporting construction, writing software, developing game strategy, contributing COMPONENTS and/or MECHANISMS, etc.).


Section 4.6 - Material Utilization

R17 With permission from another Team, Teams may also have access to FABRICATED ITEMS that are part of that other Team’s WITHHOLDING ALLOWANCE to repair and/or upgrade their ROBOT.

Originally Posted by Q&A 461

Q. Are any of the following situations legal: A team gives/loans a Component or Mechanism, to a team, that was: 1. Brought in to the event in the giving team's robot bag? 2. Brought in to the event as part of the giving team's Withholding Allowance? (Does the ruling change if the receiving team has unallocated weight remaining in their own withholding allowance?) 3. Built at the event by the giving team?

A. Revised answer follows (for added information, please see Team Update 2015-03-17): R1 requires that the ROBOT a Team uses in competition was built by that Team, but isn't intended to prohibit assistance from other Teams (e.g. fabricating elements, supporting construction, writing software, developing game strategy, contributing COMPONENTS and/or MECHANISMS, etc.). Please remember that the addition of any item to any ROBOT requires re-Inspection prior to any MATCH in which that ROBOT competes per T10. That re-Inspection also requires an update to the Team's BOM reflecting the change in ROBOT parts. Given the feedback received since the first version of this response, internal discussion, and Game Manual changes described in Team Update 2015-03-17, the answers to your questions by number are as follows: 1) Yes. 2) Yes. 3) Yes.

Originally Posted by efoote868 (Post 1459052)

Did you ever consider colliding with the cans just enough to make a precision grabber fail?

Originally Posted by Tom Bottiglieri (Post 1458986)

When there is a chokehold strategy that relies on getting game pieces and our mechanism is faster than your already completed and difficult to modify mechanism, the incentive would be to take the "blank slate".