Question About Robot Cart Rules

[Jon Stratis]

It really depends on your venue. The 30" limitation is made because in many places you may need to fit your robot can cart through an actual standard 30" door. As far as I know, no one goes around measuring robot carts, so I doubt you'll have someone coming by telling you your cart is illegal.

And as for a >30" wide robot... if you run into a narrow doorway situation, you can always turn your robot 90 degrees on the cart (assuming its a rectangular robot). I believe FIRST chose the frame perimeter the way they did to ensure that most robots would fit through standard 30" doors getting in/out of venues. Obviously, add bumpers or a non-rectangular frame and you might have an issue... but I think they were hoping that most venues wouldn't have that issue between the pits and the field, and that non-rectangular robot teams would plan ahead knowing it would be an issue.