Note, I'm donning my firesuit now as I type this.
I've been thinking about this ALOT lately. I'm not a fan of bumpers, primarily because of the restrictive rules, but I do see the reason for them.
I do realize bumpers are all or nothing, either every robot has them, or they don't. Making them optional will just result is robots without bumpers tearing up the bumpers on the ones that do.
Looking back at it, there is one major thing that has changed as the bumper rules have come about. The power of the motors included in the kit.
I believe 2005 was the first year of having 4 cims and we also had the big cims that year (I think). This was also one of the first years teams started building mega drive trains. Previous years had mostly used the bosch drill motors for drivetrains. As the power of the drivetrains increased do did the damage to robots. Now teams are building mega (up to 6) motor drive trains with shifting transmissions capable of doing massive damage to another bot or field element.
I'm not sure if it would be a major step backwards but what if FIRST restricted the motors in the kit, or amount of motors used in the drivetrain in order to lessen the damage that can be caused by a robot and thus remove the bumper rules? Not only would it loosen up the robot rules a bit, but it might help some of the KOP cost issues as well?
Just a suggestion, and I'm really not sure if it's even something I support or not, just throwing it out there. Just to be clear, I am in favor or less rules, not more.
