The age old question - bumper mounting

[Tristan Lall]

Design your bumpers so that each segment is removable by one person in less than 10 s, yet won't shift or fall off during a match. This is easy using a locking pin system (if you pay close attention to hole tolerances and alignment), but a bit harder if using threaded fasteners (try wing screws and threaded inserts for woodworking).

For bonus points, consider using the bumpers as robot structure (plywood can be quite strong). In that circumstance, a little extra effort to remove the bumpers (like 60 s per segment) is perhaps justifiable.

[Lil' Lavery]

For mounting the bumpers, 1712 has essentially used the same method for a while. We have 2-3 pieces of aluminum angle per side of the robot, with a slightly oversized 1/4" hole in them. Through these, we secure the bumpers with 1/4"-20 threaded knobs that thread into threaded inserts in the plywood of the bumper. It's not quite as fast as some of the pinned-removal systems, but it's easy and secure.

For the past few years and this year, we've had 100% bumper coverage of the frame, with one segment for each of our four sides. Prior to 2013, the bumpers were red and we had one blue removable "skirt" that we fitted around all four bumpers for when we were on the blue alliance. The skirt was secured with hook & loop straps. In 2013, two adjacent bumpers were red and the other two adjacent bumpers were blue. We then had a reversable "skirt" that could be fitted over either two segments of bumper to complete the color we needed for that match.