How legal are tension springs?

[Whippet]

Originally Posted by andre_ribeiro97

We were thinking that tension springs would put more force out per inch of movement than surgical or latex tubing. After searching the rules multiple times and checking the list of legal and illegal parts, tension springs are not mentioned. In order for our initial shooter idea to work in the least amount of space, however, we need to use them. Anybody know if they're legal, or if theres another springy material that would work just as well?

Thank you on behalf of Team 2191 Flux Core.

If it's not mentioned, it is probably legal. In this case:

Originally Posted by FRC Manual

Non-electrical sources of energy used by the ROBOT, (i.e., stored at the start of a MATCH), shall come only from the following sources:
A. compressed air stored in the pneumatic system that is legal per R79 and R80,
B. a change in the altitude of the ROBOT center of gravity, and
C. storage achieved by deformation of ROBOT parts.

(Emphasis mine.)

So yes, you can use a spring.