Non-level bumpers

[Chris is me]

"No" is unambiguous, but if bumpers have to be parallel to the floor, why does the manual say bumpers don't have to be parallel to the floor? Why not just change the blue text to say "bumpers must be as close to parallel to the floor as reasonable"?

Obviously angled bumpers are illegal if they say they're illegal, but I don't understand how the GDC would expect teams to interpret identical wording differently in different years.

[FrankJ]

Q199 said the bumpers had to be parallel to the ground. It also said the different bumper segments could be at different heights.

Maybe that gives enough room to creatively build the robot to meet your needs without lawering the rules?

[Alan Anderson]

I don't believe the GDC changed their mind between last year and this year. Nothing I've read indicates that the 2013 bumper rules permit angled bumpers. I think the Lead Robot Inspectors who gave angled bumpers a pass last year were not interpreting the rules the way they were intended. Since it was in teams' favor to accept that interpretation, nobody went up the chain of authority to get an ultimate ruling, and the LRI's word was final.

The answer from the GDC this year is clear: bumpers should not be angled. It's basically the same answer they gave last year, with the addition of the explicit "no".

[BBray_T1296]

We all do need to remember that the 2013 rulebook is completely nullified and 100% irrelevant for the 2014 game. Any rulings made in 2013 do not "roll over" into the new season. Just because they can Copy/Paste year to year, it doesn't mean we get to.

And next year in 2015, any arguments that are based on "how it was in 2014/2013/1992" will have no traction.

IMHO, having angled bumpers (relative to the vertical plane) is quite ridiculous. I would compare it to people in 2012 trying to "balance" on the bridge by driving up the Lexan guards underneath.

[Al Skierkiewicz]

Alan,
This specific ruling was discussed during multiple LRI meetings and conference calls. The answer in 2013 was any and all bumpers located between 2" and 10" above the floor were legal. I personally inspected several at each event.

[magnets]

Originally Posted by FrankJ

Q199 said the bumpers had to be parallel to the ground. It also said the different bumper segments could be at different heights.

Maybe that gives enough room to creatively build the robot to meet your needs without lawering the rules?

Our bumper sections are 0.5" long, aren't angled, and function as an angled bumper would for our intake.

Your dx approaching zero comment gave us the idea. Thanks!

[Abhishek R]

Originally Posted by magnets

Our bumper sections are 0.5" long, aren't angled, and function as an angled bumper would for our intake.

Your dx approaching zero comment gave us the idea. Thanks!

Bumpers designed using calculus, well played.

[GeeTwo]

Well, I'm both proud and ashamed to say it, but we finally picked up a ball tonight, and dropped it into fairly stable well where we could "kick" it over the truss or into a goal. (Proud that we did it, and ashamed at how little time is left to tweak and tune the controls and give the drivers practice) We did it with vertical plywood backing the bumpers, and horizontal bottom lines and pool noodles (at 2.5" off the floor to the lower edge) coming in 8" from each corner. We did do some interesting miter/bevel stuff with the track INSIDE the frame perimeter once we pulled it over the bumpers, and the final mod that made it work was made in time-saving/desperation, and involved using pool noodles inside the frame perimeter. The noodles were intended as a filler, but they apparently also served as a traction device, moving us from "almost working" to "that's it". Given the late date, we're locking this in as a solution, and are forging ahead towards stop build day.