Bumper Rule

[Compnerd]

Do the bumpers have to surround the frame/base of the robot completly, or can there be a gap? My team has looked at the rules, and everyone interprets it slightly differently. Anyone know??

[Otaku]

It has to cover 2/3, so you can have one side un-bumpered.

[waialua359]

this is a good question as we were wondering the same thing.
perhaps others can provide more insight.
Where is the 2/3 rule?

thanks

[Otaku]

There was another thread on it that actually called out the exact rule, I'm going to bed pretty soon here so I won't look it up but I do remember reading it earlier today.

[Eugene Fang]

<R08>STANDARD BUMPERS must protect a minimum of 2/3 of the perimeter of the ROBOT withing the BUMPER ZONE... to provide flexibility in design options...

there u go!

[waialua359]

why so early? its only 9:15pm....

















Hawaii time.

[Otaku]

Originally Posted by waialua359

why so early? its only 9:15pm....
Hawaii time.

Because I'm in California. =p

[AndyB]

So basically, to be safe, 3 sides of your robot... assuming its a rectangular robot.

[Sunshine]

Another question and answer on bumpers just for clarification.

Rules say that bumpers need to 2 1/2 inches from floor and 5" tall. What if I do not want a chassis that is 7 1/2" tall from the chassis? I'm assuming that I can have the bumpers above the chassis walls/sides if I want. Is this correct?

I may have to go to Q&A on FIRST.

[Taylor]

That would be correct. As long as the bumpers are in the bumper-zone space, you can put your chassis and effectors wherever you please.
I think the reasoning behind the super-defined bumper zone is to keep all contact at the same level and create a "safe zone" for the more fragile components such as manipulators.

[The Lucas]

Originally Posted by Sunshine

Another question and answer on bumpers just for clarification.

Rules say that bumpers need to 2 1/2 inches from floor and 5" tall. What if I do not want a chassis that is 7 1/2" tall from the chassis? I'm assuming that I can have the bumpers above the chassis walls/sides if I want. Is this correct?

I may have to go to Q&A on FIRST.

Here is something to keep in mind for mounting bumpers in general, but especially on shorter bots:

Make sure that your standard bumpers can simply and securely attach to your chassis in the bumper zone with reasonably sized fasteners. Incorporate the bumpers into your design, don't wait till the last minute to to find a way to attach them.

As an inspector last year, I saw 1 or 2 teams that needed some sort of metal bracket to fit the bumpers in the right place vertically. The teams thought these brackets would be counted in the weight of the bumper, but the brackets are part of the chassis and counted against the weight (and size) of the robot. Many other teams simply mounted the bumpers several inches outside of the bumper zone (between 2.5" and 8.5") because that was where it fit easily on their chassis.

With bumper requirement this year many teams will be building them for the first time. Don't make bumpers an afterthought because unlike last year you can't just take them off if they don't meet requirements.

[ALIBI]

Our design calls for bumpers around the entire perimeter of a rectangular shaped robot and our design is such that the bumpers could be constructed (fastened together) as a single assembly with with either an overlap of the plywood in the corners and/or an angle bracket behind the plywood in the corners. If we did an overlap of the plywood in the corners would be be violating the no hard part of the bumpers may extend into the corners rule? If we rounded the outside corner of the plywood overlap so that no hard part of the bumper extends more than one inch beyond the robot frame would we be violating the rule? If we left the plywood completely out of the corners and fastened the segments together with an L bracket from behind would we be violating the rule?

[65_Xero_Huskie]

Originally Posted by AndyB

So basically, to be safe, 3 sides of your robot... assuming its a rectangular robot.

This was the general rule last year. As long as you have 3 sides covered, you wont have any issues with the judges.

[AndyB]

Originally Posted by 65_Xero_Huskie

This was the general rule last year. As long as you have 3 sides covered, you wont have any issues with the judges.

There was no rule in place last year requiring teams to have bumpers.

[Elgin Clock]

With a give maximum sized robot of 38" x 28" giving us:
((38*2) + (28*2)) = 132" perimeter

2/3 of 132" = 88"

Technically I guess you can only cover 88" worth of sides if you wanted to.

Some people tend to cover just 3 sides of their robots so using the 2 most basic configurations of robot design...

1) 38+38+28 = 104" of Bumper (38" Sides & 28" Rear)

or

2) 28+28+38 = 94" of Bumper (28" Sides & 38" Rear)

In configuration 1, you are good.

In configuration 2, you are good as well.