Bumpers and Team Number

[EricH]

Originally Posted by je2164

According to the 2012 manual I can't find that it says the numbers can not be split up. Are you just saying that to make sure there is no confusion of what your number is? We have our number split up but if you are looking at the robot head on you'll see 43 76. I did not see that this isn't legal. Is it up to interpretation?

It is not up to interpretation. Well, if Q&A is up to interpretation, then it could be...

From 1/19:
Game - The Robot » Bumper Rules
Q. We have a u-shaped robot, so will have split front bumpers. Can we split the our numbers; say "33" on the right and the "52" on the left or do all of the numbers need to be on one side of the robot? It may be a tight fit with the new number size criteria.
A. Per [R35], team numbers must be clearly visible. This means that they may not be inverted, obscured, fragmented, upside down, etc.

From 1/13:
Game - The Robot » Bumper Rules » R35
Q. We are deciding to use a square U frame. So, we have to split the 4th bumper into 2 sections. Because of this, we can't decide how to place "3490" on our Bumper. Should we place the 4 numbers on 1 side, or should we split 34 and 90 across the Bumper. R35 doesn't explain how to handle this situation.
A. Per [R35] team numbers must be "clearly visible from a distance of not less than 100 ft, so that judges, referees, and announcers can easily identify competing Robots." Thus they may not be obscured in any way (disconnected, out of order, rotated, upside-down, mirror imaged, etc).


If you look at them from 100' away, with nothing in the way, you're just fine. But if you happen to be under defense, you could be mistaken for the Killer Bees (team 33), due to the other robot(s) blocking the "52" on the other bumper. This is why the GDC is being so persnickety...but I wish they'd make this clear in the Manual.