Bumper Wood

[Richard Wallace]

Originally Posted by Daniel_LaFleur

Is that anywhere in the rules, or just interpretation?

See the 2014 FRC Game Manual, Section 5 The Tournament, part 5.5.2: At each event, the Lead Robot Inspector (LRI) has final authority on the legality of any ....

LRIs do not invent rules interpretations on the fly, they base them on training. That training comes from FIRST HQ, through the Chief Robot Inspector -- that would be Al.

[Danny Diaz]

There was a team at Arkansas who asked the very same question. They wanted to make a notch in the bumper to accommodate their intake mechanism because their intake was designed without the bumpers. Andy, our LRI, said "Absolutely not." Their intake was unfortunately too wide to just "not have bumpers" where the intake and robot body met; they didn't have the 8" on each corner clearance.

You aren't REQUIRED to have bumpers that cover EVERY inch of the perimeter of your robot - depending on the design of your intake along with the rest of your frame perimeter, would it be possible to just NOT have bumpers at your intake point? Is there enough space for bumpers 8" on each side of the corners of your robot?

-Danny