Is a frisbee as a robot part legal?

[Brandon Zalinsky]

We have a hopper with a flat, aluminum bottom to bring our frisbees up to our shooter (Here is a picture of the robot). the frisbees stack on top of each other, which means that with a full load of four frisbees, the first three come off from on top of another frisbee. Those three are all accurate. The fourth comes off the flat aluminum sheet at the bottom of the hopper, which causes it to go into the shooter faster, and miss high. We were wondering if it would be legal to cut up/cut holes in one of our practice frisbees, and bolt or rivet it to the bottom of the hopper, on top of the aluminum plate. therefore making the surface from which each frisbee comes from equal.

In short- can we install game pieces on the robot without failing inspection?

[rsisk]

I don't think you will have a problem during inspection, but you do stand a chance of a referee mistaking the frisbee that is part of your robot as being one of the four you can control during teleop.

[notmattlythgoe]

Originally Posted by rsisk

I don't think you will have a problem during inspection, but you do stand a chance of a referee mistaking the frisbee that is part of your robot as being one of the four you can control during teleop.

You could always spray paint it so it is not confusing.

[jwfoss]

Originally Posted by rsisk

I don't think you will have a problem during inspection, but you do stand a chance of a referee mistaking the frisbee that is part of your robot as being one of the four you can control during teleop.

It's a COTS item and anyone can purchase it. Assuming you are below the weight limit you are good to go. I agree with rsisk, I would consider painting the disc before installation to avoid any potential confusion.

[Brandon Zalinsky]

Originally Posted by jwfoss

Its a COTS item and anyone can purchase it. Assuming you are below the weight limit you are good to go. I agree with rsisk, I would consider painting the disc before installation to avoid any potential confusion.

Ok, we'll probably speed-hole it, too, to avoid confusion.

Thanks!

[Carol]

From the Q&A - Q501

Q. Can I attach a disc (that has been painted) to my robot as a permenant part of the robot design and function?
2013-02-16 by FRC1885


A. There are no Rules prohibiting this.

[Jeff Pahl]

Originally Posted by Carol

From the Q&A - Q501

Q. Can I attach a disc (that has been painted) to my robot as a permenant part of the robot design and function?
2013-02-16 by FRC1885


A. There are no Rules prohibiting this.

As an inspector, I would have no problem with a disc being part of your robot. Just be forewarned that another inspector may question it, so I would recommend having a print out of the above referenced Q&A item (from the Q&A web page, not from CD) handy. Make sure to paint it some color besides red, white, or blue, as even with holes in it, with the speed things move on the field it could be hard for the referees to keep track of it otherwise. And you want to make sure that other teams will not have a reason to be asking if your robot was holding 5 discs at times during the match.

[Gregor]

2809 had a red frisbee on their robot, it looked like a frisbee guide. If you are only shooting white frisbees, a red or blue frisbee shouldn't be a point of confusion for the referees.

[pfreivald]

Originally Posted by Gregor

2809 had a red frisbee on their robot, it looked like a frisbee guide. If you are only shooting white frisbees, a red or blue frisbee shouldn't be a point of confusion for the referees.

And yet, "shouldn't" isn't "isn't"!

I'd recommend painting it, too...

[Gregor]

Originally Posted by pfreivald

And yet, "shouldn't" isn't "isn't"!

I'd recommend painting it, too...

Agreed, no harm in making it more obvious.

[nocapitals]

This is slightly different, but last year, our team used a basketball net as part of our robot. It passed inspection every time, they even mentioned it as a creative use of field elements in one of our awards.

[engunneer]

Then there are the teams that used part of the kit totes as robot parts. Anything in the kit is fair game.

Painting could be an issue if it changes the surface properties too much.

[orangemoore]

If you cut two Frisbee in the same way you could swap out pieces to have it easy to see it is not an actual Frisbee.