Reading back to the ramps thread....
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Al Skierkiewicz
Broadcast Eng/Chief Robot Inspector
AKA: Big Al WFFA 2005
FRC #0111 (WildStang)
Team Role: Engineer Join Date: Jun 2001
Rookie Year: 1996
Location: Wheeling, IL
Posts: 10,327
Re: Ramps
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I guess this is really an issue that revolves around the one rule that is absent this season and that is the sizing rule. In an indirect way, it also involves what we inspect as ROBOT. This season, there is no size restriction other than Transport Configuration. We have to inspect everything but it must fit inside the Transport Configuration at some point. (Which by the way is the configuration that all robots must be in when moving from pit to field and back.) If your robot is an unlimited size, it still needs to be one and only one, ROBOT. Teams that choose to have a separate part of the robot that is either passive or active, must still show that there is only one robot (See R1 below) on the field for each team. While others are trying to point to a specific rule, we must consider that the manual is something that needs to be taken as a whole. Some sections speak to robot size, some to position, some to starting position but overall everyone of them speak about THE ROBOT. As a small sample...
R1 A Team must submit their ROBOT for Inspection. The ROBOT must be built by the FRC Team to perform specific tasks when competing in RECYCLE RUSH. The ROBOT must include all of the basic systems required to be an active participant in the game – power, communications, control, and movement. The ROBOT implementation must obviously follow a design approach intended to play RECYCLE RUSH (e.g. a box of unassembled parts placed on the FIELD, or a ROBOT designed to play a different game does not satisfy this definition).
or
R3 The ROBOT must satisfy the following size constraints:
A. during a MATCH, the ROBOT height may not exceed 78 in.
B. the ROBOT must be able to be arranged into a TRANSPORT CONFIGURATION with dimensions which do not exceed 28
in. wide, 42 in. long, and 78 in. tall.
Please note that these use the singular rather than "a" showing a clear intention that each team build and use just one robot. I believe that tethers, whether containing power or simply passive ropes, satisfies the one robot of unlimited size.
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Good Luck All. Learn something new, everyday!
Al
WB9UVJ
www.wildstang.org
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I don't have issues or an issue with what happened in the end (as I knew when the GDC re-evaluated that Q&A answer and made the rules changes they did that is was bound to happen that many would end up competing w/ much that were not what they actually originally designed and built during build season, but what others actually designed later, but am still attempting to understand how we go from building THE ROBOT (and ENTERING ONLY 1 ROBOT in competition)...to competing with a completely different robot on Einstein Field in less than 3 days and still be in compliance w/ said rules as listed above and not violate either the weight or max. cost issues. (Unless THE ROBOT entered was completely disassembled into the COTS condition pre-assembly...It was still a robot (and the new ROBOT is also a robot), albeit maybe not a working robot at the time. Whatever mass is left assembled, should have counted toward total weight in my opinion is all).
Theoretically then, each match could be (if reinspected between every match of course), played with a completely different robot by each team...Soon, the pit spaces will need to each be enlarged to accomodate a whole hardware store of COTS parts & raw materials each.
And Each Team, will also need a place to park their personal machine shop trailer next to their pit also. We'll look like NASCAR soon enough!
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BTW...Congrat's to ALL the participants of a great Championships...Especially to the WINNERS / FINALISTS! And all the Award winners too.