[Al Skierkiewicz]

Joe,
The bumpers are mandated by the GDC these days to provide max protection for the robot. Neither design shown above would be legal this year...

<R07> Teams are required to use BUMPERS on their ROBOTS. BUMPERS have several advantages, such as reducing damage to ROBOTS when they contact other ROBOTS or ARENA elements, and being excluded from the calculation of ROBOT weight and volume constraints specified in Rule <R10>. The BUMPER location and design have been specified so that ROBOTS will make BUMPER-to-BUMPER contact during most collisions. If implemented as intended, a ROBOT that is pushed against a vertical wall in any normal NORMAL CONFIGURATION will always have the BUMPER be the first thing to contact the wall. To achieve this, BUMPERS must be constructed as described below and illustrated in Figure 8 – 1.
A. BUMPERS must provide complete protection of the entire FRAME PERIMETER of the ROBOT (i.e. BUMPERS must wrap entirely around the ROBOT). The BUMPERS must be located entirely within the BUMPER ZONE when the ROBOT is standing normally on a flat floor, and must remain there (i.e. the BUMPERS must not be articulated or designed to move outside of the BUMPER ZONE).
From definitions...
FRAME PERIMETER – the polygon defined by the outer-most set of exterior vertices on the ROBOT (without the BUMPERS attached) that are within the BUMPER ZONE. To determine the FRAME PERIMETER, wrap a piece of string around the ROBOT at the level of the BUMPER ZONE - the string describes this polygon.

Emphasis is mine. Teams also need to remember that the bumper zone is between 10 and 16 inches above the floor while the ball is less than 9.5 inches in diameter. You are in POSSESSION of the ball while it is contact with the floor but you CARRYING the ball if you possess it without it touching the floor.