[EricH]

Originally Posted by Steve W

If I am inspecting I will follow the rules. The diagrams are only helps like the blue boxes and not the rules. I would hate to be a team that can't compete because they did not follow the rules. It is also something I would bring up if I noticed that a team did not have completely covered backs. Why should some of us follow the rules and others not?

Why should some go through more work than they need to?

I don't think anybody's asked this to Q&A yet. If I had access, I would. I don't have access to ask questions. It should be a fairly simple: "Does <R07-E> require that the entire robot side of the plywood bumper backing be covered by the fabric? If it does, can Figure 8-1 be modified to reflect this?"

Also, by Figure 8-1 being referenced in the way it is ("must be constructed as described below and illustrated in Figure 8-1"), Figure 8-1 becomes the definitive illustration of the bumpers. Whether or not the rules support it, that is how a large number of teams will build their bumpers. Now you're telling them that they will not be allowed to compete, just because they didn't cover an area that the drawings didn't show covered and the rules *might* have been interpreted to say had to be covered--the rules appear to be ambiguous, at least in enforcement.

If Q&A doesn't say one way or the other, then both sides are equally valid. Let it alone. If Q&A says one way or the other, then that way is the way that all teams will need to go--and an update will probably be released to advise teams of this way.