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Originally Posted by MikeJ675
I don't mind the bumpers, but I dislike the 15lb weight advantage for using them.
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The weight advantage was explicitly indicated at our kickoff as encouragement for using bumpers. FIRST's goal with the bumper specification was to define contact points between robots in a manner that would minimize damage, and to use the weight advantage as an inducement for teams to include bumpers in their design. If we had to include the weight of the bumpers in our weight budget, we would never had included them and FIRST's goal of a well defined contact point between robots that minimizes the chances of damage due to robot interaction would not have been served.
I think that the shock of high speed ramming can damage the internals of a robot, even with the bumpers, and I think that the rule against high speed ramming should be enforced regardless of whether or not a robot has bumpers. We had the drive shaft of our turret pan motor bent by an impact, in spite of bumpers, although it did not take our turrent out of operation. It easly could have.
It is easy to see that aggressive robot contact between robots without bumpers has a greater chance of causing damage, and I can understand a higher degree of sensitivity on the part of referees in this instance. Their goal is to prevent robot damage during play...
I think that the bumpers were a smashing success this year! :-)
I have enough experience without bumpers to look forward to seeing "weightless" bumpers in the robot rules next year.
Eugene