Ground Clearance Vex clamping gearbox

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by Gregor

Have you seen a correctly covered scoring platform? If a team manages to damage it I'll give them the creativity award.

I believe I mentioned our robot was all set to high center on the large gear of a clamping gearbox. I think a gear spinning at 900rpm with 50lbs of down force might be bad for the hdpe. Nevermind if said gear hits one of the seams.

[steelerborn]

We only damaged the field in the very first practice match, after that we never hit the platform again and we played probably 17 matches.

But we were told that since our ground clearance was so low that we "could" damage the scoring zones so our frame would not pass inspection. I felt this was odd because you are flagging a robot for what "could" happen in the field, but if the intent was to damage the field I am sure teams could find a way and we would have many more robots not pass inspection.

For teams with low clearance just avoid the zones but probably start brainstorming options to raise your frame just in case.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by steelerborn

But we were told that since our ground clearance was so low that we "could" damage the scoring zones so our frame would not pass inspection. I felt this was odd because you are flagging a robot for what "could" happen in the field, but if the intent was to damage the field I am sure teams could find a way and we would have many more robots not pass inspection.

I'd love to talk with the inspector that decides that robots must have a minimum ground clearance to compete. It is odd because it doesn't make any sense at all, and it's never been a rule that you have to have a specific ground clearance. If you don't damage the actual field, you're fine. That's my 2c.