[DjAlamose]

Hopefully I don’t blow up in this conversation...

There is a HUGE difference between ramming and defending. When ramming you are using excessive force to move something. You are unleashing a greater amount of energy in a single instant than pushing. This can be harmful to robots. That is why bumpers are helpful, they cushion the impact. But it is still not within the spirit of the game to harm a robot, bumpers or not. I am fine with robots pushing robots around. But any contact between two robots that are going more than 2 ft a second, in my book is ramming.

Instance A: Bluebot A charges across the field only to slam into Redbot C who is shooting into the goal. Obvious ramming.

Instance B: Bluebot A is near Redbot C and pushes on Redbot C moving out of aim with the center goal. No ramming (given that the robot moved to Redbot C without going over 2 Ft/sec)

Instance C: Bluebot A charges accorss the field only to slow down right before it reaches Redbot C. No ramming.

Instance D: Bluebot A repeatedly backs up and moves to push Redbot C. No matter what speed Bluebot is traveling it should be considered ramming because the robot backed up and moved back in to "push".

I saw many times through the VCU feed of instance D. Even if the robot only backs up once and moves in again it is not within the rules. (I can't quote a rule right now but i will work on getting it).

Let’s take it out of context of robots and move it to cars. If a car gets into an accident most likely it’s because of a ramming action. But if a car was to push another car (say a car was broke down and another car was helping it along) then there would be no damage to the car being pushed (or very little).

What I think needs to be defined by FIRST is ramming. It is a very open term that can be interpreted by many people in many different ways. I have just given my interpretations of what ramming is.