[EricH]

Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV

- Bumpers were an obscure rule that no one dreamed of implementing

Gotta call you on that. At least one team did, and the next year the standard design came out. IIRC, there was some sort of weight-transfer system inside.

Most other teams used a wedge instead.

Oh, right:

Back in my day, robots were built to flop down onto their drivetrain from vertical!
Back in my day, there was no limit to a robot's expansion!
Back in my day, drill motors were the drivetrain motor of choice!
You kiddies don't even know how good you have it. Back in my day, the Kitbot was about 3 aluminum beams, some drill motors, and pray you had the smarts to put it together! (The kickoff video one year included "look-ins" at a group of about 3 "average joes" putting it together. Only problem? That's 3 average joes with PhDs.)
Back in my day, there was a large obstacle in the middle of the field.