Quote:
Originally Posted by Wayne C.
Consider this more- if you built the bumpers exactly to the specs in the rule book last year they could not make the specified weight.
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I had the interesting experience last year of inspecting at events on opposite sides of the US (Peachtree [GA] and Minnesota) and also at the Championship.
I observed that plywood does not have the same density, depending on the source. Different parts of the country, it is made from different woods which affect the weight. Of course, the moisture content can make a difference, too.
One of my least favorite parts of inspecting last year was having to try to explain to teams that fact. You would have one team with a set of bumpers that fully wrapped the bot that would just make the 15 lbs, and the next team would be at 15 lbs with only three sides. I had teams tell me that it was impossible to build 4 sides of bumpers that met the rules and the weight, but I also saw many teams that managed to do just that.
And I had a discussion with Russ Bevis, the Chief Inspector for FIRST, about this very subject at the Championship.
I'm not going to touch the attachment discussion, that subject still makes my blood pressure rise...