Team Update 2

[Kevin Sevcik]

Velcro only on the end of the rope seems to be banned. I think Velcro sewn along the length of the rope is also banned, or will be one you guys push on it. Velcro as rope probably has a short lifespan as well. I'd suggest you temporarily forget Velcro exists and see if you can come up with a different climbing design, just to save time. It's not like a Velcro climber is hard, people.

[efoote868]

Originally Posted by Kevin Sevcik

Velcro only on the end of the rope seems to be banned. I think Velcro sewn along the length of the rope is also banned, or will be one you guys push on it. Velcro as rope probably has a short lifespan as well. I'd suggest you temporarily forget Velcro exists and see if you can come up with a different climbing design, just to save time. It's not like a Velcro climber is hard, people.

From the Q&A and this update, it looks like if you weave the loops portion into the rope it'll be legal. And if the loops portion of specifically Velcro is banned, it should not be very difficult to find another natural fiber with similar properties. I don't think the GDC will come out and say "Velcro as a rope is legal," because you'll have some team that tries to use the hooks portion only of Velcro with adhesives when that doesn't meet the definition of rope.

[FrankJ]

If the Q&A is fixed long enough I think the Velcro question will be answered. But with I am thinking the way the update 2 is written, it will not be legal.

On the other hand you should be weave fibers in the rope to simulate the hoop part of the velcro. That would be enough to thread the rope on the lift drum. Think 'Superfrayed" the polar opposite of superfusion.

[lukekaiser]

My question is couldn't someone just braid, mesh or tie a rope of less than 1 inch out of yarn that would be strong enough to support a robot, and still use the "hook Portion" of the Velcro on the robots spooling mechanism? I feel like that would be really easy to create, and still have the "Velcro" properties that everyone is trying to achieve.

[Kevin Sevcik]

Originally Posted by Logan Byers

This is highly relevant. I forgot the strand part of the definition. I don't think braiding strips of Velcro will work, since a strip of Velcro is hardly a strand. I think the Velcro brigade is down to hoping that a strip of Velcro counts as a rope.

[SenorZ]

Once robotics becomes an exercise in linguistics and semantics, we've lost our way.

Instead of saying, "Hmmm, having my robot climb a rope is a challenge. Lets see if we can do that."

Teams are saying, "Hmmm, attaching to and climbing up Material X is easier than rope, and provides less of a challenge. Let's see if we can use Material X."

While there's nothing wrong with this, technically, it is not in the "spirit" of the challenge. As a teacher, I give game/challenge projects to my students. Every year I need to field a variety of "why can't I..." questions because they want to bend the challenge to meet their design preference. I know this is NOT the same thing as the "velcro controversy", but it has the same flavor.

Go to the rope section at Home Depot. If there is a spool of Velcro there, you have an argument.

[wesbass23]

Originally Posted by SenorZ

Instead of saying, "Hmmm, having my robot climb a rope is a challenge. Lets see if we can do that."

Teams are saying, "Hmmm, attaching to and climbing up Material X is easier than rope, and provides less of a challenge. Let's see if we can use Material X."

Why work harder when you can work smarter, right?

[KevinG]

Speaking only for myself, unless we get clarification I would rule as a RI that Velcro hook or loop tape meets the definition of a rope. I do not believe that my interpretation is the only one, and frankly that worries me.

[Eric Scheuing]

Question on the whole velcro thing. It looked like the loop holding the rope up for most of the match was made of velcro. Should teams be concerned that their rope won't deploy properly and they won't be able to climb?

[Cothron Theiss]

Originally Posted by Eric Scheuing

Question on the whole velcro thing. It looked like the loop holding the rope up for most of the match was made of velcro. Should teams be concerned that their rope won't deploy properly and they won't be able to climb?

That is an excellent point if that's the case. Thankfully, the rope is released by the human players, so the human player should be able to remove the retaining strap from the rope even if it does present issues.

[GreyingJay]

Originally Posted by SenorZ

Once robotics becomes an exercise in linguistics and semantics, we've lost our way.

Instead of saying, "Hmmm, having my robot climb a rope is a challenge. Lets see if we can do that."

While there's nothing wrong with this, technically, it is not in the "spirit" of the challenge.

While I would agree that there is a point of bending the rules too far, I think that encouraging students to think outside the box is very much in the spirit of an engineering challenge. A lot of good engineering comes from saying "but what if?" and challenging a conventional assumption.

I would never have thought of using Velcro if you had left me to my own devices.