Andy bumper material: rough side in or out

[loonmoon]

Our team is using the Andymark bumper material this year. We are curious if other teams are putting the rough side of the fabric on the inside, or on the outside?

[Sohaib]

Originally Posted by loonmoon

Our team is using the Andymark bumper material this year. We are curious if other teams are putting the rough side of the fabric on the inside, or on the outside?

This would depend on your strategy, each has their own strategic advantage. I'd advise you to do your own testing, the "rough" side may behave differently than you expect it to on other bumpers.

[GeeTwo]

Other than our rookie year, our main strategy was to score rather than defend, so we've put the slightly rougher side in. We purchased some AM slick bumper cloth (sail cloth) this year, but opted not to use it after reading about some torn bumper fabric in early weeks.

[Sohaib]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

...our main strategy was to score rather than defend, so we've put the slightly rougher side in...

Any reason for this if you're playing offensively? (Unless I've mistaken which side you're putting inward)

[GeeTwo]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

Other than our rookie year, our main strategy was to score rather than defend, so we've put the slightly rougher side in. We purchased some AM slick bumper cloth (sail cloth) this year, but opted not to use it after reading about some torn bumper fabric in early weeks.

Originally Posted by Sohaib

Any reason for this if you're playing offensively? (Unless I've mistaken which side you're putting inward)

Playing defensive, putting the rough side out makes more sense, to increase the friction with the other robot. Cored noodles are also preferred for playing defense as well because they conform to the other robot for better grip.

When playing offense, you want to limit the ability of other robots to play defense on you, so slicker fabrics and stiffer (solid core) noodles are usually preferred.

[Sohaib]

Originally Posted by GeeTwo

Playing defensive, putting the rough side out makes more sense, to increase the friction with the other robot. Cored noodles are also preferred for playing defense as well because they conform to the other robot for better grip.

When playing offense, you want to limit the ability of other robots to play defense on you, so slicker fabrics and stiffer (solid core) noodles are usually preferred.

Point noted about the noodles. Have you done any tests to verify this increased friction? When we ran coefficient of friction tests with the typical "rough" outside Cordura, we got completely different results.