Quote:
Originally Posted by GeeTwo
Bag and Tag actually simulates real world situations fairly well. You've got to get the main piece on a barge or slow ship across the ocean a couple of weeks before installation/use on the other side of the world, but the techs and engineers can bring a limited amount of stuff in excess baggage. COTS stuff can be procured at the install site, or shipped directly there from the manufacturer. This very closely resembles the situation of my department's data collection branch.
As a simple way to prevent further proliferation of things which look like a robot but aren't, and to avoid incredibly long, complex rules, how about these:
- The bagged robot (and spare parts) must weigh no more than 160 pounds (or pick another number) total for all bags. This applies both for initial bag-and-tag and rebagging after any demo, open-bag period, or event. Bags will be weighed by inspectors before teams may un-bag. Any overage is deducted from the weight allowed under the withholding allowance.
- At check-in to an event, each team is issued a "robot button" (e.g. 2 inches in diameter backed with velcro loops) bearing the team number. The robot must have this button affixed in order to enter the practice field or the match queue.
This would allow duplicates of assemblies, but in order to have duplicate robots, they would have to be considerably underweight or have a lot of quickly removable COTS parts. |
Mandating that inspectors weigh bags first puts a very large and unnecessary burden on them, particularly in the early hours when we're already having to deal with all of the teams that forgot their lockup form, have a torn bag, or (my favorite) bagged their lockup form inside with the robot. In a district model where our goal is to get robots inspected ASAP it's even less viable. That said using a weight limit is a viable approach.
I would make the following rule changes:
1. The maximum weight of the bag may be no more than 130 pounds. Bumpers do not count as part of the bag weight limit.
2. Bags will be weighed at the discretion of the LRI. It is recommended that teams weigh their bags and mark the amount on the sheet. In the event that a bag is found to be overweight teams will be instructed to remove items until the weight is met. Those items will be quarantined until the end of the event.
3. Robots that have not passed inspection may not be powered outside of the pit area. This includes practice fields.
4. COTS items assembled in accordance with the manufacturer's specifications are not considered prefabricated items. The assembly may only consist of components purchased as part of a single COTS item.
These changes would allow teams to ship a robot (even with bumpers on) with 10 pounds of leeway, and not place an undue burden on the inspectors unless the LRI sees something that deserves attention. The requirement that robots pass inspection before being powered on outside of their pits eliminates the utility of having two robots and also is a logical safety requirement. The COTS change provides a bit more flexibility to teams in terms of their spares, and also eliminates what I consider to be a fairly silly rule.