Designs that would never work...

[ahecht]

Originally Posted by Cyberguy34000

This design has one very obvious and fatal flaw, besides being illegal because it sits on top of the goal. In order to work the stilt/arms it would have have the strength of titanium and the weight of a toothpick. Oh, well...

I'm not sure that it is illegal to sit on top of the goal. <G20> says that "ROBOTS may not grab, grasp, grapple or attach to the GOALS or any other field structure". However, it says nothing about reacting against field structures. I'm not sure that sitting on a goal counts as grabbing, grasping, grappling, or attaching.

Originally Posted by Cyberguy34000

I actually really liked this design and it might have actually been a remote possibility if it weren't for the new rule this year about trapping opponents. It counts off 10 points for every 10 seconds you have trapped an enemy robot. So if you trapped all 3 enemy robots, depending on how fast you did it, you'd be seriously screwed, with a little over -350 points in penalties.

I searched the PDFs, and didn't find any rule about trapping (the words trap or trapping never appear). <G21> only referrs to pinning, where a robot is unable to move at all and is pressed between you and a field element (pinning an opponant robot between two alliance robots is legal). Blocking off a section of the field is legal as long as your opponant has any movement.

[Cyberguy34000]

With regard to King Kong, While it might not be illegal to sit on top, if it couldn't grapple onto the base then as soon as the arms moved the center of gravity would shift and the entire thing would just fall off.

A ROBOT may not impede the placement of TETRAS on the loading structures or the hand-off of a TETRA by a HUMAN PLAYER to a ROBOT. No HUMAN PLAYER or field attendant may be accosted by a ROBOT while placing TETRAS. Violations will result immediate disabling of the offending ROBOT, and disqualification of the alliance.


I still don't see how bedsheet bot violates this rule This rule applies to the loading of tetras on the SIDE STATIONS. Any others you can come up with?

[Aignam]

Originally Posted by Cyberguy34000

I still don't see how bedsheet bot violates this rule This rule applies to the loading of tetras on the SIDE STATIONS. Any others you can come up with?

Just because an issue isn't addressed specifically doesn't mean that it's not illegal. FIRST is built around gracious professionalism, and FIRST-ers are to apply gracious professionalism in every aspect of FIRST (and preferrably in extra-FIRST matters, as well). This includes in the build season, in the arena, and yes, even in interpreting the rules.

Could you build the "bed sheet bot"? Yeah, I suppose. Would it be gracious professionalism to employ that strategy? Nope. Would it last 1 match on the field before a ref steps in and makes the call that it's illegal? Nope, definitely not.

Threads like this can be fun---but you're starting to sound a little too serious about breaking the rules. Everything has limits.

[Cyberguy34000]

On building a bot that would violate gracious profesionalism...

I'm not looking for loopholes in the rules in order to take advantage of them. I'm trying to highlight some problems that FIRST might have overlooked. I apologize for getting a little sidetracked or if I made it appear as if I was trying to consider building or condoning a bot that would give a very unfair advantage to a certain team.

Overall I still want to keep this thread as a fun place for those bad designs and ideas that got shot down in those brainsatorming sessions to be heard. So don't let this get in the way. Lets hear some more of those casulties of common sense!