8 inch bumper rule and other

[jvriezen]

Originally Posted by jlee0119

In the rules it says that bumpers do not need to be attached to the chassis but just touching it. the photo below shows how we have only attached it on the sides. Is this legal?

Also we attached our pool noodles to the board with tape (SHHHHH don't tell the judges!) but do you think they will ask about them or do we have to take apart the bumpers and attach them with zipties.(refer to pictures)

Zipties are no more allowed than is tape. In fact, zipties could be considered more of a violation because they are not as soft. Lots of teams have built bumpers without using anything to fasten noodles to plywood or fabric. Its really not that hard to do, though it usually takes an extra set of hands.

As to fastening the bumper to the robot, I can't really tell where fasteners are located, but it would probably come down to how much 'give' the bumpers have at the midpoint (assuming this is furthest from any attachment point) As an inspector, I'd want to see very little give here, and also would want the robot to be able to be safely picked up off the floor by lifting from these same points on the bumpers only. So in the picture, if the bumpers are only secured at the extreme end points of the C shaped bumper, I would not consider that to be robustly fastened.