Quote:
Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz
If you have ever seen a student's face after their robot has been rendered useless, you know why I support the bumper rules. I am not interested in merely satisfying a rule, I want the students to drive in as many matches as they possibly can and good bumpers help them do that. Ike said it pretty well above. If you spent so much time building what you think is the best robot you can build, why would you sacrifice your creation by mounting a substandard or ugly bumper on it? Make it look pretty, make it functional and robust and don't let it fall off.
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I'm suggesting that teams consider strengthening their robots by building robust bumpers (taking advantage of all that free weight and the inherent strength, stiffness and energy absorption of the plywood), and rely less on heavy frames to meet their robustness targets. I don't think that's at odds with the core objective you articulated.