Quote:
Originally Posted by JesseK
Bumper zone contact is expected. Bumpers are variable in their distance from the floor by up to 3 inches, so it's easy for a 'natural' wedge to form with the bumper apexes. There's also probably a 50lb difference between those two robots. These are the facts, and both robots are 100% legal given the probable variables at play.
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This was my exact thoughts as well, and a good example of why teams should try to get their robots as close to 120lbs as possible (while controlling for CoG), and mount bumpers as low as possible unless they have a good reason not to.
While intentional tipping is not allowed, teams should bear some responsibility to build a robot that resists tipping during normal robot-to-robot contact. In 2013 for example, I saw a team that had built a robot that was like 14" wide x 42" long x 50" tall, and it would tip CONSTANTLY, with just the slightest touch (and several times they even tipped themselves). The refs virtually (and correctly) never called penalties on teams that had caused them to tip though because it was clear the robot had not been built to handle normal gameplay, and almost no amount of force could be used when touching them that wouldn't cause them to tip.