Teams: Check Your Bumpers

[Cal578]

Originally Posted by jyh947

The frame perimeter was extended by one inch, from 6.25 inches, to satisfy the rules.

If this means you now have 7.25" of frame, measured from the corner to the inside opening, then I'm afraid it's still not legal. You must have 8" of frame on each side of the vertex (the outside corner of the frame) per [R27]. I presume you have 3/4" of plywood extending past the corner, to overlap with the other bumper, but that doesn't count toward the 8".

I would spend the time between now and your first competition cutting two pieces of 8" channel, and making new front bumpers, so your team can do a quick replacement on practice/inspection day.

Best of luck to you.

[ZipTie3182]

I'm sorry if this has already been said. I skimmed through and didn't see it.

Is there a definitive rule that requires all numbers to be on one side of the short bumpers and not split? We already made our red pair and would like to know if we need to redo the fabric before we make our blue pair. We'll need to make new stencils as the ones we have won't fit on the small bumper.

-Anna

[dodar]

A lot of teams are taking the safe route and moving all to one side of a split bumper but some are going ahead with split numbers because the ruling is kinda vague on that point. But I believe the ones that did do the split numbers have also made some that are all on one side just in case they are wrong.

[one4robots]

Originally Posted by Duke461

Maybe someone should make a robot that purposely follows the bumper rules exactly, yet all 4 sides get completely obscured and no one can ever see the numbers.

I'm kidding, of course.

But seriously, why does FIRST need to this? It is so superfluous!

Tangent question (and this is just a thought, my team did not do this): Would one be allowed to securely/rigidly mount a piece of polycarbonate, or some mounted "plate" to the bumper, that actually extended past the 8 inches of bumper into the "U" area such that i could much more easily write out a number?

Just my thoughts, complaints, jokes, concerns, or something......
-Duke

Perhas it is to prepare our students for the eventuality of a customer demanding something in the product that is completely superfluous and ridiculously unnecessary. Does that ever happen in real life?

[one4robots]

Originally Posted by Cal578

If this means you now have 7.25" of frame, measured from the corner to the inside opening, then I'm afraid it's still not legal. You must have 8" of frame on each side of the vertex (the outside corner of the frame) per [R27]. I presume you have 3/4" of plywood extending past the corner, to overlap with the other bumper, but that doesn't count toward the 8".

I would spend the time between now and your first competition cutting two pieces of 8" channel, and making new front bumpers, so your team can do a quick replacement on practice/inspection day.

Best of luck to you.

Unfortunately, Cal is correct. You need 8" of frame (not plywood, which is considered part of the bumper). Spend the time befre your regional making 8 inch front frames. Sorry and good luck!

[JohnBoucher]

See this post
http://www.chiefdelphi.com/forums/sh...6&postcount=29

[Alan Anderson]

Originally Posted by ZipTie3182

Is there a definitive rule that requires all numbers to be on one side of the short bumpers and not split?

Originally Posted by dodar

A lot of teams are taking the safe route and moving all to one side of a split bumper but some are going ahead with split numbers because the ruling is kinda vague on that point.

The Q&A response is clear and unmistakeable:

[Numbers] may not be inverted, obscured, fragmented, upside down, etc.

Split numbers fall under the "fragmented" category.

[engunneer]

Originally Posted by ZipTie3182

I'm sorry if this has already been said. I skimmed through and didn't see it.

Is there a definitive rule that requires all numbers to be on one side of the short bumpers and not split? We already made our red pair and would like to know if we need to redo the fabric before we make our blue pair. We'll need to make new stencils as the ones we have won't fit on the small bumper.

-Anna

There are multiple Q&A Answers that say you cannot Fragment your numbers

A. Per [R35], team numbers must be clearly visible. This means that they may not be inverted, obscured, fragmented, upside down, etc. Bumpers that wrap around a corner are likely to be considered fragmented and not able to be seen in their entirety.

is just one of them.

[Koko Ed]

Maybe FIRST made these bumper rules so IRI would have something to blow off come July.

[johnr]

Q&A has answered the question about blocking your team numbers. It's ok too. Now all teams go build that cow catcher.

[Michael Hill]

I'm sorry, but FIRST has really missed the mark when it comes to bumpers. What real difference does it make if a team displays their number more than 4 times? I know FIRST is supposed to get kids interested in STEM, but emulating the pointless bureaucracy and red tape that actually exists in the real world is not the way to do it.

end rant.

[MrForbes]

Originally Posted by Michael Hill

I know FIRST is supposed to get kids interested in STEM, but emulating the pointless bureaucracy and red tape that actually exists in the real world is not the way to do it.

I think it's good that FIRST is letting our students get a taste of the real world....you gotta have a lot of fortitude to make it in STEM, after all

[Duke461]

Originally Posted by PAR_WIG1350

Wouldn't this defeat the purpose of having a 'U' shaped opening, That would effectively make it an 'O' again.

No, the polycarbonate that was hanging off the end would be flexible, but i suppose that would only retain its "U" functionality if the robot had a ball manipulator outside of the frame of the robot. I was more just wondering the legality of doing so.

[pyroslev]

I already know we're gonna have to redo ours on one ...

Unless they come out and amend some of those rules for the numbering. At this point, I can see an update post First week regional, if not by this Friday Lunch time.

[JosephC]

Originally Posted by Michael Hill

I'm sorry, but FIRST has really missed the mark when it comes to bumpers. What real difference does it make if a team displays their number more than 4 times? I know FIRST is supposed to get kids interested in STEM, but emulating the pointless bureaucracy and red tape that actually exists in the real world is not the way to do it.

end rant.

Let's pretend we're team number 16. Under the current bumper rules you may only have 1 number per side.

--------16---------

Lets say the rules were changed to allow more then 4 numbers, and we decide to put our number twice on each side.

-----16---16----

Which team are we, 16 or 1616?