Having Bumpers mounted at different Heights?
 

So I read the rule book and I have an idea to help cross the stone wall and moat by having the first thing for the robot to hit when reversing being treads or wheels to help climb over, like a rock climbing car To do this however Bumpers would get in the way. Could I lift the bumpers higher in the rear than in the front? Say life 5" from the ground in the rear and 3 inches in the front?) Is this against the rules? I've read and I didn't see anything specifically but what do you guys think?

Re: Having Bumpers mounted at different Heights?
 

The BUMPERS must be in the BUMPER ZONE and must be protecting the FRAME PERIMETER corners. They do not have to be at the same height all around the ROBOT. The rules say they do not have to be level.

Re: Having Bumpers mounted at different Heights?
 

Wow yeah, I overlooked that bit, Thanks a lot Gary!

Not trying to hijack thread, but also have a bumper question. This is going to be our first year not using kop frame, and the plan is to have a U shaped frame. My question is do the bumpers have to come inside the U at all, or can they stop at the inboard most edge of the tips of what would be the U

Re: Having Bumpers mounted at different Heights?
 

Short answer - your question is answered in R19 & Figure 4-3. One of the robots in 4-3 is U-shaped.

Long answer - bumpers have to protect outside corners on the frame perimeter. The frame perimeter continues across the mouth of the "U", that corner you're asking about having to protect or not isn't an outside corner.

Re: Having Bumpers mounted at different Heights?
 

the bottom left picture in Section 4.7 (R19) should answer your question

Re: Having Bumpers mounted at different Heights?
 

As an addendum question, the manual says curves are considered to have infinite corners. Does this mean they need bumper on them or that they do not?

For the sake of example, if the frame perimeter of my robot is circle, do I need bumpers at all?

Re: Having Bumpers mounted at different Heights?
 

Since every corner must be protected by a BUMPER, and a circle is considered to be an infinite number of corners, the entire circle must be protected.

Re: Having Bumpers mounted at different Heights?
 

On a related note, I know R25 states "BUMPERS must not be articulated (relative to the FRAME PERIMETER)."

Does this mean its okay if the bumpers change height due to lowering or raising my wheels/frame to clear obstacles? I'm assuming the bumpers are still rigidly attached to to the frame and within the bumper zone as the frame height changes.

Re: Having Bumpers mounted at different Heights?
 

Assuming they are not moving in relation the robot frame. As far as I understand, as long as the raising of your wheels does not create any new corners and modify your robot frame at all, you should be fine.

Re: Having Bumpers mounted at different Heights?
 

Why just have them high in front ?

If your robot had longitudinal symetery (same in back and front) you could go through a defense, back up, then go through again to disable.