Quick release bumper design
 

This is like the 15th snowday for our school so I came up with a relatively simple bumper attachment design and thought I would share.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phkYfAKK91A

Eagles - Team 2874

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

What is the bumper height

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

You can adjust how high the bumpers are by the position you mount the plywood to the attachable piece of metal. If you are wondering about the height for this years competition the bumpers must be between 1 and 7 inches off the floor. We have made ours to be 1.5 inches off the floor on the bottom and 6.5 inches off the floor on the top

As you probably know the bumpers are 5 inches high

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

If we ever have school again i will take my video camera and make a video of our bumper system so you have a better idea of how it works as a whole

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

Wow, very nifty idea. If you machine it just right, maybe grease the contact points, I can see this being extremely quick and easy. It is more complex than a simple bolt or pin, but it might make a team's robot all that more snazzy. You should find some kind of handle/grasping point you can put on top of it for simple grabbing.

One thing I thought of: if your bumper has two latches/quick releases, you'll need three hands or a helper: two to pull and hold up the latches and one to pull out/place the bumper. Could you make the quick releases latch up so that you don't have to hold them there? How about sawing a notch in the middle bolt, which you can hook on to a lip from that metal tubing.

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

Once you have the two side bolts clear of the holes, it looks like you could just twist it so they don't go back in and relatch it.

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

BMX,
Looks nice. Could you give us a report once you have them in place on a driving robot and let us know how they fair in hits with the walls and other robots? I am interested to know if they will accidentally release the bumpers.

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

And that's a RED CARD this year!
(BUMPER rules are found in Section 4)

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

We have finished building the quick release mechanisms. We have a total of 8 on our robot 2 per side. They work amazing, we are in the process of making a cable that will allow one person to pull up on and then just slide the bumpers in.

If you space the 2 quick release brackets the same distance from the front and the back of the robot the right and left sides will be interchangeable same with the front and the back.

We made the spring to be adjustable so they are plenty strong enough. We dont plan on them coming off but I will keep you all posted.

Today I will post an updated video of all 8 on the robot and how we intend for them to work.

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

2 per side might violate the "support every 8" rule"

How are you supporting the robot to meet this rule.
It is a very nifty idea...

Remember also that your fastener can't extend out beyond the wood...

I hope you make this works
Our team has used rivets to fasten our bumpers for awhile now... pretty quick and very sure

good luck!

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

Where do you go to school? I want to go there!

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

I assume I'm misunderstanding this. It sounds like you're riveting your bumpers to your robot...and that can't be right. Among other things, it would take forever to remove them for inspection. Please help me understand what you're describing.

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

On the contrary - removing riveted bumpers wouldn't take that much time at all. All you have to do is drill them out.

I'm assuming aluminium rivets here - a bit easier to drill out than a steel rivet.

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

The 8-inch support rule says that you cannot have any missing sections of frame greater than 8". It doesn't say your bumper has to be connected every 8".

Most teams using traditional bolts and wingnuts use 2 or 3 connectors per side.

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

Our fastening system utilizes rivets top and bottom.
They are quicker to get on and off than bolts and nuts actually. Our whole robot is riveted in constuction... similar to the 217/148 style of construction...

The school we come from is Aviation High School ...right in the middle of the land of Boeing.
Rivets come natural to us...

Many of our students want to go on into aero engineering...

thanks!!

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

I wasn't referring to the number of attachments but to the ability to keep all of those points tight against the frame sections...

i am sure they can do it... I just want to make sure that the entire rule is considered..
Quick release mechanisms, from my experience, are not commonly as tight as standard solutions...

thanks!!

B

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

"Tight" has a bit more flexibility to it this year. 1/4" of space or less of space officially counts as supported.

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

Okay we finally finished making all the brackets (16 because we are making two complete sets)

I, the build team captain, put another student in charge of making the brackets. However, not a single one fit so I re did them and if they are done right everyone of them fits the first time. When I get some time i will make a how-to video.

Both sets will be completed by this wednesday I will keep you updated

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

I am concerned how quick release designs are not a violation of rules.

The hardware attached to the plywood can only protrude out from the plywood surface a bit more than 1/4" if it stays attached to the bumper.

So if you then declare the fancy bumper hardware is, instead, part of your robot and not part of the bumper, then they are sticking out past the outer planes the frame, which is also a violation, plus it reduces the max size of your frame.

So this seems to be a Catch-22 scenario. How is the quick release attachment H/W going to BRIDGE across both the frame and the plywood enough to strongly join them when the joining h/w can only overlap onto the frame by ~1/4"? Having only 1/4" of metal protruding from the plywood that can overlap onto the frame is not very much to work with for accomplishing an effective quick release design. Am I missing something here?

BTW, even if horizontal bolts going through the frame to protrude enough to screw into flush threaded inserts, set into the plywood, are used to secure the bumpers, are the bolts considered part of the robot or the bumper? If they are part of bumper, they are a violation, and if they are part of robot they can also be considered a violation (no protrusions from robot frame can go out very much), plus they would be extending the size of robot.

-Dick Ledford

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

I cannot find justification for this statement in this year's competition manual. I am assuming that this interpretation came from <R07-L>, but that rule only governs how far the hard parts of the bumper may extend outside the frame perimeter and does not restrict extension of the bumper inside the frame perimeter.

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

I don't know if you're missing something, or if I am. Where did you get a 1/4" fastener rule?

Perhaps you're misinterpreting <R07-L>:
The "hard parts" can only extend up to 1" outside the frame. There is no restriction on how far inside the frame they can extend.

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

We did something very similar in 2010. I don't have any close up videos of the mechanism itself, but it was almost exactly the same, and we didn't have any problems with holding strength, and we had more then a few very hard hits. As for the "bumper support rule" (<R07> K), it was our understanding during inspection that because the bumper was in contact with the frame that when the bumper was hit it transferred the load directly to the frame, (ie it wasn't hanging off the side causing the bumper to bend) and therefore was supported. However our robot was quite small last year and our mounts were never more then 8" apart anyway. Have a look at the diagram in the section 4 <R07>-K, the right most scenario should answer your question.

This was our change out time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQRya...layer_embedded

and this was how we made them
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcZjm19kcsg&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaHGN...eature=related

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

Yes, but if the ~3/4" plywood is included as part of this 1" limit, then only ~1/4" remains available for metal "hard parts to interface with the frame.

My question remains unanswered. Are the quick connect "hard parts considered part of the BUMPERS or part of the ROBOT? If they are extending more than ~1/4" from the inner face of the plywood toward the frame, then it is a violation. If quick the quick connect hardware is considered part of the robot, then they are alos limited as to how far out from the frame face they can project into the plywood.

It still seems like a Catch-22 situation. Does anyone get what I am asking?

-Dick Ledford

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

I interpret R07-L to mean that the SUM of the plywood's thickness AND any metal attached to the plywood's inner or outer surfaces cannot exceed 1". This leaves only ~1/4" available for the design of the metal "hard parts" that will engage with the frame, thus severely restricting the amount that the metal hard parts can protrude inward past the vertical plane of the frame's perimeter.

-Dick Ledford

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

Dick, you are misinterpreting <R07-L>. The rule is saying how much BUMPER-stuff can be outside the FRAME PERIMETER - it includes the noodles and fabric in "soft parts". There is no restriction on how much can be inside the frame.

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

So as far as inward frame penetration of bumpart's hard parts, anything is allowed within the weight limits of the bumpers. That eliminates the mounting problem that I thought we had. Thanks.

-Dick Ledford

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

Dick,
The 1" hard parts rule refers to any hard parts that extend beyond the frame perimeter not that intrude on the frame perimeter. This rule simply insures that a team does not construct their bumpers with fasteners that project beyond the pool noodles when hit. At all times, robot to robot and robot to field interaction must be shielded by pool noodles including the corners. See Fig 4-1.
As for the hardware/structure used to mount bumpers, the intent is that major robot structure is not moved to the bumper assy in order to bypass the robot weight limit and thereby increase the weight of the robot. Brackets, angles drilled and/or threaded, clevis and other attachments to hold bumpers in place will be weighed with the bumpers. Other structures that are meant to be robot structure will be weighed with the robot. This part of the bumper rules has not changed significantly in the past three years.

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

What is the height of the bumper

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

You already asked this question and got an answer in this thread:
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...ad.php?t=90814

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

Last year we built L brackets onto our bumper plywood that enable a quick pin insertion in the chassis to fasten them. This image shows what I'm talking about:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_7ARQ8dzOTc...per.design.JPG

This thread has conflicting info as to whether this is legal in 2011. Should I be asking the FIRST Forum?

Thanks.

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

Those look pretty close to these sold by AndyMark: http://www.andymark.com/productdetai...ctcode=am-0572

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

The only real question of legality here, was about the 8" support rule and the diagram in rule <R07>-K answers this. It IS legal, and since our team started using quick change bumpers, we've saved soo much time not just between matches but when in the pits and back at school.

Re: Quick release bumper design
 

aepstein,
From first glance, I don't see anything that violates current bumper rules for attachments.