[Tristan Lall]

Unfortunately, I think I see where this bumper confusion is coming from. The rules don't actually say that the bumpers are part of the robot, nor the hostbot in particular.* (It's not in the definitions of robot, hostbot or bumper, nor is it explicit in "The Robot".) They do make repeated references to the bumpers being attached to the robot, and even distinguish between parts of the robot and parts of the bumper. This could easily be interpreted as meaning the bumpers are a separate system, distinct from the robot.

And the <R11> exclusion is no help, because there's no explicit inclusive component to that rule—it says what bumpers aren't (part of the weight limit), but doesn't say what they are. (Similarly, it says that the operator console is not part of the weight limit, but doesn't say whether or not it's part of the robot. Same reasoning applies.)

We all (FIRST included, presumably) assume that they are part of the robot, because that's the way it worked before, but if FIRST didn't actually say so in the rulebook, why should we assume any given team will comply with our expectations, rather than use their own good-faith, logically-consistent reading of the rules?

Now, there was that Q&A that said bumpers count toward the withholding allowance—but if you're operating under the assumption that the bumpers aren't part of the robot (for the reasons described previously), then the Q&A is obviously erroneous: fabricated items are components, which are robot parts, and therefore bumpers couldn't be part of the withholding allowance, because they aren't robot parts at all. (And if the Q&A contradicts the rules, we have to go with the rules.)

So, let's make an effort to quote the relevant rule (to put this matter to rest).

*Feel free to correct me if I missed something. I didn't do as thorough a re-reading of the rules as I might have, because I really ought to be doing something else at the moment....