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Originally Posted by Dzdconfusd
Pretty much every device in those Q&A's already violates <S03> already and that is why they are disallowed.
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For the record, each of the 4 Q&A answers that I cited were specifically rulled on based on <R04> NOT <S03>. They become a wedge regardless of wheather or not they are a shooter.
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Originally Posted by Dzdconfusd
The question comes into play when a ball harvester, like the picture of Team 33's 2004 robot from the Q&A this thread started with, is interacted with. At that point it comes down to the referee's interpretation of <S04>, and the various robot interaction rules.
Based on the direct answer from the GDC in the original Q&A a harvester is legal to be angled, a dump ramp is not per <R03>.
Re: <S03> - Definition of a Shooter
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The mechanism as shown would be a legal ball collector, but not a legal shooting mechanism because it is outside of the 28 x 38 inch allowable starting envelope. We understand your concern, but there are no exceptions to <S03>.
http://forums.usfirst.org/showthread.php?t=508 |
I am probably not going to make many friends saying this but I don't understand the confusion. Rule <S03> has been in the rule books from the time we received the rules on January 7th. It HAS NOT CHANGED but merely been brought to light due to the recent Q&A quoted above. Our team read <S03> and <R04> and understood them to mean exactly how the FIRST Q&A clarifies them. It doesn't matter if you are "shooting" at the low goals at a low velocity or at the high goal at 12 m/s it is still shooting. The "shooting mechanism" of a gun includes not only the breach and chamber but the barrel. In the case of the questioned 2004 Team 33 bot the lower goal shooter mechanism is clearly outside the 28" x 38" starting footprint and would thus violate the <S03> rule this year. I agree with Madison that it seems that FIRST is starting to force the GP issue this year with these rules which is unfortunate because I think it limits some of the creativity. To answer my own question posted above: Yes, I think FIRST wants all the bots to be square boxes 28" x 38" or less from the floor to 8.5" up. They are also pushing the standard bumper design this year and I wonder if they will be mandatory next year? Wouldn't that just kill the creativity of any not squarish bots. They already killed the cool "flop over bots" this year. FIRST is starting to head in a direction of limiting more and more what teams can and can't do sort of like NASCAR. NASCAR has so many rules now that all of the cars a pretty much exactly the same. I don't know if FIRST views the need for these rules as in the mind of "safety" or "fairness" but either way it is unfortunate.