Bumper Question

[serenagh]

I understand R19 and R21, and I know this is not the official Game Q & A -- I'll ask there if no one here points out a rule I'm overlooking.


R19 ROBOTS are required to use BUMPERS to protect all outside corners of the FRAME PERIMETER. For adequate protection, at least 8 in. of BUMPER must be placed on each side of each outside corner

Is it legal too, for example, manufacture a bumper which is 9", but where the last inch slopes inward at an angle (say, 45%)? Or is this a violation of R21 C? A similar scheme is legal for the outer corner (see images below R24), where teams use beveled edges to mate bumpers together.

We're interested because it might help our intake to have a "slope" to help filter the ball in.


Thoughts?

[Jon Stratis]

Cutting your pool noodles at a slope, other than in the corners (which is a special case as defined by R24) would seem to me to violate the intended bumper cross section defined in R21 and shown in figure 4-7. In multiple questions every year (except last year, obviously), the Q&A has referred pretty strictly to the bumper cross section, which would make me strongly suspect anything not meeting that cross section to be a problem.

Remember, the bumpers are there to protect your robot, not make it perform better at the given tasks for the game.

[NShep98]

Originally Posted by Jon Stratis

Cutting your pool noodles at a slope, other than in the corners (which is a special case as defined by R24) would seem to me to violate the intended bumper cross section defined in R21 and shown in figure 4-7. In multiple questions every year (except last year, obviously), the Q&A has referred pretty strictly to the bumper cross section, which would make me strongly suspect anything not meeting that cross section to be a problem.

Remember, the bumpers are there to protect your robot, not make it perform better at the given tasks for the game.

I don't believe the intention is to cut the pool noodles in any way, but rather to make it so the bumper covers the required 8 inches, then any section of bumper after that is sloped so that it is now inside the frame perimeter, in which case that portion of bumper is in fact not considered bumper at all officially, seeing as it is inside the frame perimeter.

However, since 8 inches of bumper from each corner are present, this would be a legal solution, as far as I can tell.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by NShep98

I don't believe the intention is to cut the pool noodles in any way, but rather to make it so the bumper covers the required 8 inches, then any section of bumper after that is sloped so that it is now inside the frame perimeter, in which case that portion of bumper is in fact not considered bumper at all officially, seeing as it is inside the frame perimeter.

However, since 8 inches of bumper from each corner are present, this would be a legal solution, as far as I can tell.

Problem here - that last inch of "sort of a bumper" needs to be weighed with the ROBOT. How are you going to have it installed for weigh-in?

And none of that last inch of "sort of a bumper" can be outside the FRAME PERIMETER at the start of the match.

[NShep98]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

Problem here - that last inch of "sort of a bumper" needs to be weighed with the ROBOT. How are you going to have it installed for weigh-in?

And none of that last inch of "sort of a bumper" can be outside the FRAME PERIMETER at the start of the match.

Maybe I'm not understanding you, but these don't seem like very troubling problems.

How will it be installed? I assume (and I know what assumptions get you) the same way as any other section of bumper, except this section technically does not meet the definition of bumper.

As far as being inside the frame perimeter, the very thing that keeps it from being considered a bumper is the fact that it is within the frame perimeter, so unless there is some sort of actuation involved that was not mentioned that would put it outside the frame perimeter at any given time, I don't believe this point is applicable.

Again, I'm just assuming. I may be completely off with my thinking, but there seem to be pretty logical solutions to me.

[BethMo]

The slanted section isn't a bumper, since it doesn't meet the cross-section bumper requirements. And since the desire is to slope from the outer edge of the bumper inwards, the slanted not-a-bumper section would need to lie outside the frame perimeter.

So, much as it might be nice to have an inch of slant, and just as safe as having a gap there, it's not legal.

[CalTran]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

Problem here - that last inch of "sort of a bumper" needs to be weighed with the ROBOT. How are you going to have it installed for weigh-in?

Originally Posted by NShep98

How will it be installed? I assume (and I know what assumptions get you) the same way as any other section of bumper, except this section technically does not meet the definition of bumper.

The problem with installation is that, while physically, the bumper and not-bumper may be one single piece, the inspection process for them would have to divide them up into two distinct pieces - the 8" required for bumper inspection (and bumper weight), and the ~1" section of not-bumper that would have to be weighed with the rest of the robot, sans 8" of attached bumper. Unfortunately, there isn't a way to do that, at least, not with current FRC scales.

[FrankJ]

Realize the 'not a bumper' portion now defines your frame perimeter.

Given the rigidity the GDC has responded to bumper questions in the past... Anything that doesn't look like a bumper is going to be chancy.

[serenagh]

Thanks for the responses!