45 Degree rule...

[Ken Leung]

I think at this point, most teams have their robot designed up to the point that it will be hard to add a 45 degree ramp 17" off the ground... Especially with so many goal robot this year without any good reason to be a tall robot... until now.

I guess all you have to do, is add a few structure piece that extend all the way up to 17" off the ground, and just add a small size ramp...

But it is really possible that the goal robots already have some sort of mechanism to lift one side of the goal slightly off the ground for more traction, and that the addition of a small ramp will be in the way of that mechanism.

Mean while, with a lot of robots lifting goals for more traction, that mean the opposite side of the goal will be pointing down onto the ground, and not an flat surface anymore. So the little ramp can't be that little anymore.

Bottom line, I think enough robots will be planning to lift goal(s) slightly for more traction that this ruling won't affect too much design out there. It just provide an easy way for teams (probably beginner teams and rookies) to add more traction onto their drive train. And I think most teams expected other teams to lift up those goals for traction anyway.

Not too big of a deal, I think. What do everyone else think?