Bumper Rule Question

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Ryan,
The picture shown is a new, allowable corner defined by the GDC this year. The thought being that one bumper gives support to the other and teams who wish to design one piece bumpers can take advantage of this new ruling to strengthen the corners.

[Hallry]

Originally Posted by Al Skierkiewicz

Ryan,
The picture shown is a new, allowable corner defined by the GDC this year. The thought being that one bumper gives support to the other and teams who wish to design one piece bumpers can take advantage of this new ruling to strengthen the corners.

Ah, thanks. My apologies, I missed the previous image showing that the perpendicular overlap is not needed (as shown below).

[gearheadcapital]

I have one question regarding what Mr. Skierkiewicz wrote. Specifically, he said there cannot be a gap in the frame of more than 8". I didn't read that proviso in the rules. Does this mean we cannot have more than an 8" segment cut out of the frame or does he mean that the bumper cannot cover more than an 8" cut out in the frame? Put another way, can you remove more than an 8" segment of frame perimeter, provided that there is at least eight inches on either side of that opening or are you limited to an 8" maximum opening?

[EricH]

Originally Posted by gearheadcapital

I have one question regarding what Mr. Skierkiewicz wrote. Specifically, he said there cannot be a gap in the frame of more than 8". I didn't read that proviso in the rules. Does this mean we cannot have more than an 8" segment cut out of the frame or does he mean that the bumper cannot cover more than an 8" cut out in the frame? Put another way, can you remove more than an 8" segment of frame perimeter, provided that there is at least eight inches on either side of that opening or are you limited to an 8" maximum opening?

[R33]
Bumpers must be supported by the structure/frame of the Robot (i.e. each end of the Bumper must be rigidly attached to the Frame Perimeter, the gap between the backing material and the frame must not be greater than ¼ in. and no section of Bumper greater than 8 in. may be unsupported). See Figure 4?7.

Al forgot to specify that that gap was behind the bumper. You can remove more than 8" of frame perimeter, provided that you do not try to mount bumper across the gap, and provided that you leave the required bumper areas at the corners fully supported.

[Bill_B]

Originally Posted by EricH

... You can remove more than 8" of frame perimeter, provided that you do not try to mount bumper across the gap, ...

I'm not picking on Eric, but his comment points out the possible difficulty people are having discussing or understanding this whole thing. The frame (or chassis) is distinct from the frame perimeter. A gap in the frame may be thought to be that area of your chassis which does not reach the frame perimeter. Bumpers are placed outside the frame perimeter based on various gap rules between them and the frame. Bumpers are also governed by the vertex coverage dimension for the frame perimeter. Because bumpers have support rules as they occupy a volume outside the frame perimeter, impositions on the frame construction are in effect.