Which off-season are you guys competing in this fall? I've been talking with the organizers of a couple of them, and might be the lead robot inspector telling you your minibot is illegal
But really, I think off-season competitions tend to be a little looser on the rules - mostly focused on safety and ensuring a fair level of competition among all teams present.
Personally, I think the minibot would be a great way to gain experience with the material and the company providing it, regardless if you can use it in an actual competition or not.
Now, if you go ahead and build it and bring it to an off-season I'm working at, I'll expect two things before considering allowing it:
- proof of safety. Provide me with spec's for M30
and polycarb, side by side, that show what the differences are, and be prepared to explain why those differences won't affect safety (primarily, I would be concerned about shattering - is your minibot going to break into a hundred pieces when it hits that top plate? If pieces do break off, are they going to be a danger to people working the field, like glass would be? You should be able to use the specs to prove that it's just as unlikely to happen with M30 as it is with polycarb). As an added bonus, bring some extra material and demonstrate how safe the material is.
- proof that it doesn't provide an unfair advantage. Specifically,
if you had made it out of polycarb instead of M30, what would the difference be? Would you see a difference in weight for the minibot (since weight is the primary factor in determining acceleration, given the anticipated uses of this material)? If so, can you offset that by adding some small weights to "equalize" your advantage?
Note: If the competition adopts changes
like those made for IRI this year with regards to minibot scoring, the second point might be much easier to make, as fast minibots doesn't provide nearly as much competitive advantage.
If you want to talk more about it, PM me. I'd be happy to help you get an "official" answer for any of the twin cities off-season events.