[Vikesrock]

Our design will likely work this way as well. We will also be testing the "inside the Frame Perimeter" version, but we expect we will be going with a version that does utilize the 2 second exception. It will need to be in a partially retracted position for inspection and the start of each match.

A piece of surgical tubing strong enough to restrain the device inside the frame perimeter would slow the kicker down as soon as it reached the frame perimeter, negating the purpose of the extra 3" of travel (as soon as the kicker slows due to a force not part of the collision the ball will be traveling faster and lose contact).

We are making every effort to make this partially retracted state safe, including using a robust latch, but barring circumstances where we are forced to do otherwise we will have a separate safety device restraining the kicker when it is in this position and the robot is anywhere but it's starting position on the field.

It would be preferable to have this safety device in place when sizing the robot, but if that is not we will do what we can to make sure the process is as safe as possible.