2012 Bumper rule gray area

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by 1nv151b13

Another thing with the bumpers, is that one of the images seems to be incorrect, figure 4-2


(http://imgur.com/o0BbJ)

Although there is some unnecessary bumper, I don't see an issue with the circled edge.

A frame perimeter is contained inside a convex polygon.

[ToddF]

We decided a better caption for that arrow would have been "not required". Have to see if they change it.

[Alan Anderson]

The Bumper must be against the Frame Perimeter. On that particular corner, there's a bunch of bumper material inside the perimeter.

If you want to make a separate piece of bumper-ish assembly along that inside edge, and count its weight as part of the Robot, then I don't think there are any rules against it, but you can't make it part of the Bumper.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Alan Anderson

The Bumper must be against the Frame Perimeter. On that particular corner, there's a bunch of bumper material inside the perimeter.

If you want to make a separate piece of bumper-ish assembly along that inside edge, and count its weight as part of the Robot, then I don't think there are any rules against it, but you can't make it part of the Bumper.

Exactly.

Over the past few years, a number of teams have asked questions about configurations exactly like the one shown. The response has been, almost universally, "No, it's not part of the bumper. No, that's not the frame perimeter."

Could you do it? Yep. Does it get counted as a bumper? Nope. Does it therefore count against size and weight? Yep. At least, that's my interpretation. (And no, I'm not on the GDC or remotely affiliated with them. So this is not an official interpretation.)

[GaryVoshol]

Notice that a portion of the "interior bumper-like structure" extends beyond the Frame Perimeter - that's the primary reason it's not OK. The section of the actual Bumper that extends partially across the cutout is also troublesome; I don't know if the rules address it as "unsupported" or not.

And as noted above, any bumper-like structures that do not qualify as Bumpers must be counted in size and weight.

[rich2202]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

Bumper Zone is defined in the Blue Box under [R01], 2 to 10 inches from the floor.

Seems clear on the face of it. Even traversing the bridge, the bridge floor is the "floor", and the 2-10" zone can be maintained at all times.

Times when the 2-10" zone is exceeded:

1) While balancing (especially with 3 bots), when a bot "overhangs" the bridge, is the plane of the bridge floor considered the floor, or is the part that overhangs counted from the arena floor?

2) When traversing the barrier, the barrier can be considered the "floor". But, once you overhang the barrier, is the arena floor now the floor? If you have big wheels, it will lift the front of your bot way above the the zone. It might be in the zone with reference to the barrier, but once the front of the bot clears the barrier, the wheels may still be on the barrier, and the bumper is way out of the zone.

If the barrier is considered the "floor", then it causes a problem when the frame goes over the barrier before the wheels lift the bot. The bumper could have 0" clearance of the top of the barrier.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Rich,
Bumpers are inspected when the robot is on the floor. That is the only logical way to look at them. If a robot turns over, the bumpers do not become illegal simply because they exited the bumper zone.

[R29]
Bumpers must be located entirely within the Bumper Zone when the Robot is standing normally on a flat floor.