Re: Least favorite rules?
 

In our final match at LA we had removed our arm due to banebots failure.

We were with a great lift robot, and against a decent ramp robot; It all came down to ramp points.

They deployed in their homezone and I attempted to scatter tubes there and push tubes onto their ramp. By accident, I drove onto their ramp 3 times. Apparently this is a 10 point penalty for this. I can't find this rule, but I dislike it.

Re: Least favorite rules?
 

It's part of <G35>:

A ROBOT may attach to and/or climb onto a ROBOT on its own ALLIANCE. A ROBOT may not attach to and/or climb onto a ROBOT on an opposing ALLIANCE (doing so will be interpreted as an attempt to damage an opposing robot, and may be penalized as such).

Driving onto the opponents ramp is a 10-pt penalty. I saw what happened - I saw that the robot backed onto and off the ramp 3 times, but in rapid succession. Maybe it could have been a single 10-pt penalty rather than 3 infractions, but the ref dropped the flag, picked it up and repeated twice...

Re: Least favorite rules?
 

I dislike that we can only use Bimba or SMC cylinders and the 72" rule

Re: Least favorite rules?
 

I have a strong dislike for <R46> disallowing the use of the 2005 IFI Breaker Panel.

Re: Least favorite rules?
 

You actually can only use Bimba or Parker-Hannifin cylinders, not SMC or Norgren. SMC and Norgren sponsor other components but Bimba has the cylinders.

Re: Least favorite rules?
 

If a bot falls and is over the hieght limits it is a penalty. < this snagged us today. a bot fell and lost us the match

Re: Least favorite rules?
 

The ramps outside the home zone rule. It's lost us a few matches when alliance ramps went outside the zone, even by just an inch.

Re: Least favorite rules?
 

Press the E-stop button quickly enough and it shouldn't be.

Re: Least favorite rules?
 

Shipping the batteries would probably be my least favorite. The two batteries caused our crate to be overweight this year. The crate was designed to ship and protect a 120 lb robot, and with a 120 lb robot it comes in just below 400 lbs. With the robot, and 30 lbs of batteries plus controls, it comes in at "Please see the Shepard rep before uncrating". I understand the GDC's line of thinking that it will keep teams from forgetting these two important items (yes, some do) when packing, but I think part of the whole learning process is learning how to make a list of things to pack, and making sure things like the batteries are at the top of that list.

My second least favorite rule is the "no tape" rule. I also understand why this rule is necessary, as there would be some robots that would be completely covered in and held together with duct tape. However, the resonable use of narrow tape to attach wiring to the robot would keep many of them from looking like advertisements for zip-ties, and at least the tape wouldn't have sharp ends poking out to scratch everyone. As an engineer, I believe that it is possible to use tape and it still be "good engineering", but as a robot inspector, I also don't want to have to make that judgement call. I do wish the rule wording in <R35> would not specify "double sided sticky foam" but just "double sided tape" as we use some awesome 3M tape at work that I'd love to be able to do some things with on the robot, but it's not "foam", as it's only a couple of mils thick. One of the things we use it for at work is to hold parts down in the CNC mills. It takes heat or a press to get it to release. Every year it seems that we end up attaching something to the robot using sticky back velcro instead of proper double sided tape, and it just doesn't hold as well. That's not good engineering practice, but the rules force us to do it that way.

Re: Least favorite rules?
 

My least favorite rule is all the detail FIRST goes to defining how number should go on the robots and then don't bother to enforce it. There are always a slew of robots with small numbers, numbers not on all four sides, poor contrast.... It's annoying when teams go to the trouble to do something so simple right and others get to skate.

Re: Least favorite rules?
 

The 72" penalty for unintentionally tipped robots, BY FAR!

Penalties exist for two reasons.

1. To ensure that the arena is safe.
2. To ensure that the arena is fair.

This penalty has nothing to do with safety, and it further penalizes a team that's been disabled!

Re: Least favorite rules?
 

My most disliked rule is probably the no-handling-of-multiple-tubes rule. Why remove a potential challenge? If people want to aim for the sky, let them.

Re: Least favorite rules?
 

The kinds of rules I dislike most are the ones where due to some random act, you are penalized. This year, it happens when a human player tosses a ringer, and it snags on the robot, most of the time on your alliance flag. Once that 'bot "controls" another ringer, it's like a 10 point penalty for controlling two ringers. Very annoying.

Also, the tape rule, which I saw in an earlier response. Maybe not the rule itself, so much as the blind and somewhat arbitrary enforcement. I understand not using tape to hold your gripper together, but there how about the intended use of some kind of tape being allowed? Example this year was skateboard grip-tape, which can be used for traction on a ramp. A team was told this was not legal, unless the tape was glued on, after removing the adhesive.

After writing this, the tape rule, for the above reason, is my most dis-liked rule. A rule that states the intended use of a tape, if it's a specialty item, should be allowed. ENGINEERS DESIGN TAPE AND ADHESIVES. FIRST IS NOT RECOGNIZING THE ENGINEERS WHO DEVELOPE AND ANALYZE THESE PRODUCTS! They are basically saying that any tape product (other than electrical tape for insulation) is "beneath" the standards of FIRST.

I'm going to contact 3M about this...

Re: Least favorite rules?
 

The guy to contact there is George Buckley. He is their CEO. Many years ago, when he was with Emerson, George met Dean Kamen and that meeting got me started with FIRST. George is an engineer (a Ph.D., in fact) and he knows what FIRST is about.

Re: Least favorite rules?
 

at Detroit, we scored a tube on the low level of the rack. while reaching for a tube directly beneath that, the tube we just scored got knocked off. because of this, we scored the tube we just picked up there and scored the other next to it to get a row of five. the tube wasn't counted, so we only got 3 and 1 single and lost the match