Quote:
Originally Posted by s_forbes
It's hard to tell in that picture, but it looks like their arm/manipulator got bent up. If all of the robots involved in that match had bumpers, would this have turned out differently?
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If contact had been limited to the bumper zones and all robots had bumpers, damage like this could have been avoided. Even last year (Overdrive) damage was limited a lot from previous years with the emphasis being that robot-to-robot contact was to take place only in the bumper zone. It was enforced through penalties and lots of people complained.
I feel that the restriction placed on teams this year was less about an interesting design challenge and more about protecting robots. <R08> had some sections that were directed at making a sturdy robot - I'm thinking the one that required the bumper to be fully supported on the back side was a nudge towards making a REALLY sturdy chassis.
While I agree that teams should start out from a strong chassis on their own, there are some that feel that aggressive defense to the point of damaging another robot shouldn't be part of the game. Until there is some sort of agreement between teams, FIRST is handling the dispute by implementing rules that protect everyone as best as possible. This means that rookies build sturdy frames from the start and veterans that need some additional challenges need to accomplish whatever task they are aiming to hit with the additional design burden of the bumper zone.