[Curt Henderson]

Team 1501 had a similar issue, our robot base in 27" wide and we needed to pass a 40" dia ball through the window over the robot which meant our flagpole would be hit be the ball. We initially thought to make it flexable and let the ball push it out of the way during the tossing of the ball. Then we got scared that the whipping action would loosen the flag and eventually knock it out. We devised a pivoting mount for the flag pole that swings the flag out 12" to the side of our base 500ms before we launch the ball and then retract it shortly afterwards to prevent it from be ripped off from a collision with another robot during our laps to retrieve the tossed balls.