[Andrew Schreiber]

Originally Posted by Mr.G

We were the team that had the tee design last year and won an award for it at our first event. At the first event the ref's questioned the design but concluded that they couldn't see that it was positively in violation of any rule. But asked if we would ask the GDC to verify and we did here: http://forums.usfirst.org/showthread.php?t=15188 As you can see they never responded even after many phone calls. We showed up at our second event and they told us we couldn't compete. We could have fixed it in the fix it window if they had responded. But instead were forced to fix it at the event. Redoing the frame and bumpers was not easy.

The whole thing was handled very badly with FIRST. I was very sad to see the rule in the rule book again this year. It is a very confusing rule that really should just say "no inside corners are allowed"

After much arguing at the event they finally told us what part we were in violation of. They interpret it as: The outer-most exterior vertices (aka corners) are the perimeter. Thus if you have an inside corner it is not outer-most and thus is not allowed.

They tell us not to lawyer the rules but then they don't write them like an engineer would and it forces us to lawyer them.

Here are this years rules:
BUMPER PERIMETER – the polygon defined by the outer-most set of exterior vertices of the BUMPERS when they are attached to the HOSTBOT. (To identify the BUMPER PERIMETER, wrap a string around the BUMPERS at the level of the BUMPER ZONE - the string describes the polygon.)

FRAME PERIMETER – the polygon defined by the outer-most set of exterior vertices on the HOSTBOT (without the BUMPERS attached) that are within the BUMPER ZONE.

In blue: To determine the FRAME PERIMETER, wrap a piece of string around the HOSTBOT at the level of the BUMPER ZONE - the string describes this polygon. Note: to permit a simplified definition of the FRAME PERIMETER and encourage a tight, robust connection between the BUMPERS and the FRAME PERIMETER, minor protrusions such as bolt heads, fastener ends, rivets, etc are excluded from the determination of the FRAME PERIMETER.

The string example was in the rules last year, it is a simple rule and if you REALLY struggle with doing it in your head get some freaking string and drive some nails into plywood. If the string doesn't touch the nail it isn't a valid vertex on your bumper perimeter.

As for it being handled poorly at FIRST's end I have to agree, the inspectors at your FIRST event should not have allowed you to compete at all and it sucks that they lacked the understanding of the bumper rules. I was at that event and I also saw teams competing without batteries secured down and with black bumpers. I admit, my brother got sick of my picking at least one team a match that shouldn't be allowed on the field because they shouldn't have passed inspection. (This was Saturday and is only a SLIGHT exaggeration)

Originally Posted by squirrel

It's not likely that many judges have studied the rules...they are not the robot inspectors, after all.

You're right, but it is hard to give a robot that isn't on the field an award and 326 should NOT have been on the field.