"Crate Flipper" Mechanism
 

Our team has a quick question about the rules regarding a mechanism's potential to harm other robots. We had a great idea for a way to flip the crates during autonomous, using a simple spinning rod attached to the front of the robot that swings widely outwards and knocks over crates with ease. But, would this be too potentially harmful to other robots and therefore be considered illegal? We think that if it hits a robot in autonomous it is not our fault, and that during tele-op mode we can operate the mechanism ourselves, but any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Re: "Crate Flipper" Mechanism
 

I'm an FTC outsider, but having read the manual I'd be leery of a robot that was just swinging that around blindly. If your autonomous routine involved running it when the robot was supposed to be in range of a crate, and did so with no more force than was required to tip the crate over, your strategy would appear much more valid.

Re: "Crate Flipper" Mechanism
 

First place to find answers to your questions is alway the game manual...if you can't find an answer there, another great source for FTC help is the FTC Forum:

http://ftcforum.usfirst.org/

If you register you can even post questions...but always be sure that you read all of the posts relating to the subject you are interested in first;)