I was curious about the same thing, so I looked through the
field component drawings.
On page 74, I found GE-17081 Upper Arm, which is the component of the DAVIT that we are interested in. Its ordinate dimensions indicate that the back of the fingers, where the knot will be stopped, is 3.25" from the edge at which the rope bends 90 degrees down. Vertically, that edge is 18.19" from the lowest point of the Upper Arm. So we will need 21.44" of rope between the knot and that point.
Looking at Fig. 3-19 on page 27 of the Manual, it appears to me that the TOUCHPAD assembly is mounted with its lower surface flush to the lowest point on the Upper Arm, but I cannot find a drawing that clearly indicates this.
Rule I04-F required that the top knot be at least 29" from the retaining knot.
So my best guess is that the highest knot that a robot could touch while climbing a legal rope will be 29 - 21.44 = 7.56" below the TOUCHPAD.
Someone please check this and correct me.
__________________
Richard Wallace
Mentor since 2011 for FRC 3620 Average Joes (St. Joseph, Michigan)
Mentor 2002-10 for FRC 931 Perpetual Chaos (St. Louis, Missouri)
since 2003
I believe in intuition and inspiration. Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited, whereas imagination embraces the entire world, stimulating progress, giving birth to evolution. It is, strictly speaking, a real factor in scientific research.
(Cosmic Religion : With Other Opinions and Aphorisms (1931) by Albert Einstein, p. 97)