Quote:
Originally Posted by Jaxom
If I saw weighted bumpers where there is extra material that clearly wasn't needed as part of the attachment system or doesn't fit R24, I'd be inclined to think that there could be other places that the team also stretched the rules too thin.
|
I do agree that when a team stretches or bends rules, the inspectors should look more closely at other things... if you're willing to twist the rules how you like in one instance, you're likely willing to do it again in other places!
However, I disagree that adding weight to bumpers bends rules or requires any careful reading of the bumper rules. I just re-read the bumper rules and really didn't find a thing that made me feel iffy about adding weight (especially in the form of beefier brackets or reinforcments) to bumpers.
Given my experience with bumpers for our robots, it seems to me that every team should be able to make strong, legal bumpers for their robot that weigh 15 pounds or less. Why then has FIRST raised the weight budget for bumpers up to 20 pounds? Seems to me that FIRST isn't trying to get every team to have the same weight bumpers by having a high budget. If team's want light bumpers, make them light (while strong and legal!)... if team's want heavy bumpers, make them heavy (while legal and hopefully strong enough!).