Reversible Bumpers

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by JesseK

I'd be happy if they'd simply let us re-use last year's bumpers, or at least some of the already cut (or sewn) parts of them. There's so much less waste in re-use. Plus we wouldn't have to figure out where to store 3 years' worth of bumpers

I second this notion... There are two issues with reuse of parts, though: Competitive advantage over other teams (in this case, over rookies), and the educational aspect of designing and building something new. I don't think anyone would argue that the bumpers really provide an educational aspect, given how strict the rules are. So, it just comes down to advantage - rookie teams would have to spend hours making bumpers during the build season. Hours that veteran teams could spend improving their robot.

So, to solve that... Lets get a standard set of bumpers on the FIRST Choice site as an option only available to rookies (either take it or don't, it doesn't replace any other choices). They would assume the "normal" length and width of 90% of FIRST robots (since the complete perimeter rule went into affect). Simple, easy, and would help ensure teams have compliant bumpers. How many rookie teams have you seen that haven't used the KoP frame, sized to the same dimensions?

If you make it easy for rookies to have ready-made bumpers, then re-using bumpers from a previous year doesn't really give any veteran teams an advantage.

Of course, if the bumper rules change, old bumpers may no longer be compliant... And that would be a year for everyone to build new ones.