Re: Update 11
 

THANK GOD! I don't have to re-read the manual. So...many...hours *twitches*

Re: Update 11
 

its not just the thunderchickens and wildstang that change rules as well,

in 05 team 522 had a wedge in front of their robot.

after that year most robots were restricted from having to much of a incline to form a wedge of the robot, found in rule books nowadays =D lol

Re: Update 11
 

We like to blame 330 and 67 for that one.:rolleyes: Both had wedges on their sides and one end, and used them only for defense. But when both won the Championship... Wedges would have become much more common, leading to lots of robots tipping all over, so wedges were banned altogether and we have the bumper rules.

Re: Update 11
 

I thought that was the no tipping rule. (And the GDC has denied going after any specific teams.)

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actually i believe 522 tipped over several robots and moved any robot in their path in 05 like no ones business, i should know.. my team got pummelled by them lol..

and in nyc they pushed two robots into a stationary tetra no problem... scary..

in atlanta instead of pushing robots onto their wedge during a pushing match, they would just let them drive up it for their own fate... again my team did this lol

Re: Update 11
 

How about the infamous rule reversal of Ought Three, the one I believe was called update "68" where FIRST made decided that truck town thunders method of playing the game would be illegal even tho it wasn't currently against the rules. I just remember saying man that robots going to dominate play when they posted the bot on cd and the very next week remember thinking, that robots not going to be able to play. ( or atleast how it was originally intended )

As far as I know most rule changes spurred on by teams are for the better. And if everyone doesn't like something, there is always IRI where they "Take everything that stunk about the rules last year and fix them" lol Ironically said by Paul Copiolli during opening ceremonies.

Re: Update 11
 

The wedge rule came after a rookie team designed a robot who's only function was to tip other robots over. It took a while for the rule to make it into practice but a much shorter time for the rookie team to realize their mistake and become a great FRC team. Gracious Professionalism is alive and well.

Re: Update 11
 

Here's an oldie:

in 1992, the KHS ScienceKats (old TechnoKats name) fabricated an on-board compressor* to store up high pressure for shooting a projectile to knock off the middle tennis ball (the highest point ball). There was no rule against this, until the event officials saw what this robot could do. They then deemed it unsafe for that year, and subsequently outlawed the making of your own compressor on FIRST robots.

* - This thing was about as big as a pack of cigarettes. It used a solenoid in the kit to drive a piston, I believe. The piston shoved air through a check valve, and into a tank.

AB

Re: Update 11
 

This probably isn't the time or place to get into that matter again, but by my reading of the rules that year, their robot was in violation of them from the start.

Re: Update 11
 

I must have missed this. Can anyone possibly explain?

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In 2003, your robot wasn't supposed to be designed to react against certain parts of the field. Truck Town built a robot that went into the middle of the field and unfolded over some of those elements in such a way that it made it effectively impossible for their opponents to cross the field (a chokehold strategy if ever there was one). Unfortunately, if they had gotten pushed they would react against those elements and become immovable. T3 was confident that they had enough traction that that wouldn't be an issue, but their design was deemed illegal. Here's a pic of the robot in its unfolded mode: picture.

Re: Update 11
 

Wow!
I had no idea Triple T inspired the no field element support rule. I just thought it was always that way.
Considering the "No one pushes Truck Town Thunder!" it would've worked too if it wasn't for those meddling rules!

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It was that way already. This just inspired a large debate about whether or not it was their fault for reacting against the field when being pushed into the center bar, or the opposing team's fault for pushing them into it.