Quote:
Originally Posted by Joel Glidden
Man, maybe I am out of touch. I have just come back into the game after a hiatus that started in 2005, so most of my experience is from the days before bumpers. Back then we built 'em strong and appreciated vigorous defense and counter-defense. This stuff about safe zones and fear of getting rammed by a padded robot makes it feel like FRC has been nerfed.
Jeez, does this mean have turned into the "Back in my day..." guy?
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Haha, I haven't seen many people express that opinion, but I can really relate to it. I was active in high school from 2004 - 2007, right when bumpers were introduced and a stronger focus on penalizing damage came along.
In general, I think most everyone agrees that the bumpers themselves are a good thing. They allow you to not have to bandage your robot as frequently, not have to drive with as much trepidation, and gives your more time to focus on improvements rather than repairs.
That being said, I don't think I will ever agree with getting penalties for having a piece of your robot break or for breaking a piece of another team's robot. I'm not even sure if I agree with this distinction of "reaching inside the frame perimeter." You should take care to protect all of your important parts and understand that competitive play will result in tons of accidents. Having your robot broken is bad enough, adding a penalty on top of that is ridiculous.