pic: Team 675 2011 Robot CAD
 

Re: pic: Team 675 2011 Robot CAD
 

How do you mount bumpers to this?

Re: pic: Team 675 2011 Robot CAD
 

Very carefully lol

Re: pic: Team 675 2011 Robot CAD
 

The bumpers have C-channel on the bottom so we just slide them on and slip in a pin.

Re: pic: Team 675 2011 Robot CAD
 

I think the question was more directed at the large gap in the front of the frame, in terms of complying with <R07> K: "No section of the BUMPER greater than 8" may be unsupported".

It appears that the cutout in the front of the robot is wider than 8", so that section cannot legally meet all the bumper rules. You will need to put a frame member to support a bumper there. Per rule <R07> A, you need bumper coverage around your entire FRAME PERIMETER, which does include that gap.

Re: pic: Team 675 2011 Robot CAD
 

I believe the C channel would count as the support

Re: pic: Team 675 2011 Robot CAD
 

The frame perimeter is when you wrap a string around the robot and whatever the string touches is now defined as area for needed bumper coverage. Thus if we have a gap that is not touched by the string, we don't need to cover that area with bumpers. Thus, looking at all rules from 2008-2009, the bumper definitions are exactly the same, we would argue that having this open area in the bumpers is in fact legal. In previous year's robot we have indeed had these gaps in the frame and it was legal to not cover that area with bumpers. 2010 was the same way, except the bumper zone was higher than most people's kickers, thus most teams had bumpers around their whole robot, however there were a few that did not and it was still legal.

Re: pic: Team 675 2011 Robot CAD
 

I hate to tell you but this is very simply wrong...

Re: pic: Team 675 2011 Robot CAD
 

You better bring more plywood, pool noodles, and fabric to your first regional, because you're going to need to make a new front bumper.

The key part there is the 100% coverage part.

The whole "wrap a string around the robot" thing is IMHO a poorly worded way of FIRST trying to communicate that the frame perimeter that the bumpers mount to must be a convex polygon.

Re: pic: Team 675 2011 Robot CAD
 

Can you show me a picture of a team that did not have full bumper coverage? At every event I went to, and every match video I watched, I did not see a single legal robot without full bumper coverage.

For the record, The last year where full bumper coverage was not required was 2009.

That arm looks like it might need to be rebuilt or at least tweaked to be able to function with a front bumper in place. You (OP) might want to pack some parts for that too.

Re: pic: Team 675 2011 Robot CAD
 

We've built it in mind with having to place bumpers on the front of the robot, we were just curios as if we needed to or not. The arm does work with the bumpers there, but thanks for the heads up!

Re: pic: Team 675 2011 Robot CAD
 

If the C-Channel is attached to the bumpers, it would not count as support, backing, or coverage. There has to be actual robot frame to connect to on the front of your robot.

Re: pic: Team 675 2011 Robot CAD
 

We're aware, but a removable bracket bolted to the robot frame that the bumpers pin to does not count as part of the bumpers, thus it will count.

Re: pic: Team 675 2011 Robot CAD
 

This design looks familiar :)

Fixing your bumper problem should be simple if the claw will still work with the bumper there.

Just bolt another tube across the front to provide "frame backing" and you'll be good.

What is the claw made out of? We made ours out of plywood, fiberglass, and chopped carbon fiber in '07; it was somewhat of a tour de force for our team at the time...

GL in Sactown!

Re: pic: Team 675 2011 Robot CAD
 

[quote==Martin=Taylor=;1037177]
This design looks familiar :)
[quote]

I don't know what you're talking about ;)