Quote:
Originally Posted by Cory
Have you even seen a downward sloping ramp pass inspection and compete?
I haven't, I would assume because essentially everyone agrees they are not legal.
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Yes - ours.
There was a discussion in a different thread around week 2 or 3 of regionals on this topic. The consensus seemed to be as long as the minibot stays below the deployment line the entire time it contacts the ramp AND the end of the ramp is higher than the beginning, then there is no net potential energy converted to kinetic energy.
Our ramp starts out downward, but the minibot does not gain any energy from the downward slope since the end of the ramp is higher than the start of the ramp (i.e. there's a net loss of potential energy by the time the minibot leaves the ramp). Furthermore, the minibot stays below the deployment line the entire time it is touching the ramp.
Why do we do it? Becuase the Tetrix motors inhale audibly and we're trying to unload them as much as possible during acceleration.