Bumper Question

[EricH]

Matt, if your frame where those bolts are attached isn't beyond the edge of the bolts, you have more serious problems to worry about than the bumpers! Once you're contacting that frame area, no problems there.

Also, like I said: they won't be measuring center-to-center. It'll be point-to-point, so you would probably have been able to pass as you were, if you could have convinced your inspector that the bolts were part of the Frame Perimeter. That convincing would have been the hard part...

[GaryVoshol]

I thought of another interpretation to your question. When you say your bolts are 8.5" center-to-center, are these bolts the ones you are using to connect the BUMPER to the ROBOT, the fasteners?

That's not what is meant by "supported" in <R07-K>. That rule is talking about the ROBOT parts behind your BUMPER, what most people think of as the frame. There can be no unsupported sections of plywood - no sections that don't touch the frame - greater than 8" long. As long as you don't have any gaps greater than 8" in your metal parts where the plywood touches, you should be OK. The other exception in <R07-K>, the 1/4" part of the rule, allows for vagarities of build - bolt heads sticking out, slightly bent metal or warped wood, etc.

Most teams use 2 or 3 fasteners per side to connect their BUMPERS to the ROBOT.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

If your bumpers are resting on bolt heads that are used for fastening frame parts and they are not more than 1/4" thick then that meets bumper rules. If the bolts extend beyond the allowable size of the robot STARTING CONFIGURATION then you have a different issue. Under all circumstances the robot must fit inside the box.
If your bolt heads are larger thicker than 1/4", Eric's tip is acceptable assuming all other rules are followed. Gary's interpretation of the 8" rule is correct. The gap in your supporting frame structure can be less than 8" long.

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

Most teams use 2 or 3 fasteners per side to connect their BUMPERS to the ROBOT.

I think Gary is reading the original question the way it was intended...

You only need two bolts to hold on each bumper, they can be up to about 37" apart if you want them to be.

But you need something solid (like the robot frame) back there for the bumper to rest against, when the robot runs into something, to keep the bumper from deflecting in and possibly breaking. The 8" rule means the gap in whatever is behind the bumper cannot exceed 8 inches length.