[EricH]

Originally Posted by ehfeinberg

What about this year, with robots flipping when going on the bridge. If your robot could still move when it was flipped sideways or had a way to right its self up, wouldn't the robot be breaking the bumper rule?

No.

[R29]
Bumpers must be located entirely within the Bumper Zone when the Robot is standing normally on a flat floor.

When a robot tips, it is not standing normally on a flat floor. I think that's pretty obvious.

Now, with a flop-bot, it's normal stance is both vertical (starting configuration) and horizontal (playing configuration). Obviously, bumpers would be required in vertical configuration, as otherwise G01 comes into play (violation of R29). With me so far?

When the flop-bot drops down, the bumpers cannot move to stay in the Bumper Zone. For one thing, size becomes an issue; for another, see R30 on the (il)legality of articulated bumpers. So, bumpers are not entirely in the Bumper Zone when the Robot is standing normally on a flat floor. Not only that, but the Robot section of the Manual specifies maximum horizontal dimensions. G01 only applies to pre-match--but I would reasonably expect that the inspectors, having not inspected the robot in the flopped configuration (if they did, it wouldn't pass), would call on the head ref to issue a red card under T03.



FYI, the full computer part has been relaxed a little, after 359 successfully got one onboard without breaking any rules in 2010. Admittedly, it was more of an equivalent of a computer... but it's now a little bit more possible.