2013 running 2 - VI air compressors legal?

[Kevin Kolodziej]

A proper Q/A is probably in order, but let me test the waters here first:

The offboard compressor must be controlled by the robot as if it is on the robot. The benefit of it being offboard is that its weight is not part of the robot. I.E. it is NOT part of the robot.

Here is my question: Can you have the newer, smaller compressor, on your robot (used during matches to keep your air supply topped off) but use the older, larger compressor offboard to fill your tanks between matches? This would be accomplished by disconnecting the leads from the onboard compressor and connecting them to the offboard compressor and using the existing sensors and power supply. The robot is always receiving air from one and only one compressor.

There are three reasons for this:
1. As Jimmy already pointed out, a robot with a substantial amount of stored air can take a long time to refill. While this shouldn't be an issue in qualifying, as you go deeper into elims, time is less between matches. There is a significant difference between the time it takes the two types of compressors to fill large quantities of storage tanks.
2. The smaller compressors get REALLY HOT quite quickly. Even the larger ones get pretty darn hot after a few minutes of continuous run time. The ability to use two compressors saves wear and tear on both.
3. I've been near a robot that had a brass fitting burst because it was connected to the compressor which got so hot the brass softened and couldn't handle the pressure. Not a catastrophic failure like the plastic tanks, but still quite dangerous.

Kev