Quote:
Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz
Art,
We are not saying that the team intended to increase pressure, nor are we saying that they would recalibrate the relief valve. Inspectors do need to make interpretations all the time. This is only one of a hundred + that I made this season. A few were... Are tywraps suitable fasteners for springs? Can a team use barbells for ballast? Is a 16 pound mallet legal for a ball shooter? Can I use a leg lamp from the Christmas Story as a kicker? Can I bring in my protobot and my alternate drive base in addition to my bagged robot? Can I use a ratchet wrench as a mechanism for my shooter release device? Can I use an electro magnet that we rewound for use at 12 volts? When I replace the nylon stockings on my leg lamp that are damaged during a match, is that a repair or modification? Can I put this "mini=sun" on my robot to help my vision system? Can I make a 300 volt power supply to power the neon lights our sponsor would like to see on the robot? Can I write my own protocol software, I don't like that which is provided? These are in addition to the questions asked on the Q&A.
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Al,
I hear what you saying and NEVER implied that inspectors purpose was to make teams life harder. I also recognize that it is not an easy job to do the inspections considering so many variables on each robot and decisions have to made quick. But now that we are discussing it without added pressure of the competition event, reasoning you provided did not seem fully align with the rules and that's why I was questioning it.
I wasn't hoping for FRC to include all the variety of weird questions in the rule book. What I was hoping is the rules that already exist to be more clear. In the instance of Pressure Switch something like these would be a lot more definitive:
- Only pressure switch that can be used is Nason fc14-006 (part #SM-2B-115R/443)
or - Any COTS pressure switch can be used that switches at 120PSI or less
or - Any COTS pressure switch can be used that switches at 120PSI or less. However, no adjustable switches allowed.
This is probably an idealist speaks in me, but I cannot see a reason why rules cannot be clearer.