YMTC: Defensive Strategies

[eugenebrooks]

Originally Posted by Justin_302

see i have to disagree with you on this. i think teams should be able to stop an offensive robot. i think the ramming rule a little harsh because teams should be building their robot for a little abuse, but a full power ram should not be able to fly. ..but it makes me wonder why the rules are so strict this year

Having a robot that got three wheels broken off at Sacramento, two
in rapid succession with a multiple attempts at the third as we could still
"offensively" move to score, I would like to suggest that if high speed
ramming is allowed, that we also be allowed to build and field the
perfect energy absorbing bumper.

It goes as follows:
Have a metal plate outside the wheels, but within the legal footprint.
The plate is mounted on shafts that go through bushings in the frame.
The shaft contacts the handle end of a 10 pound sledge hammer on a pivot
so that when the plate is struck at high speed, the kinetic energy of the
impact is converted to kinetic energy in the hammer that slams down
vertically on the robot that struck at high speed. The plate is on the
side where it could not be employed offensively, and where it would
protect the wheels. Any robot that tries to get themselves a wheel,
or two, had better be well amored from above. A simple push does not
impart any energy to the hammer that is otherwise kept in place with bungies...

This really looks like battle bots, but any rational person would say
that a robot that is slamming to produce damage is getting their due.
Legal? You get really unhappy when a team slams a high speed only
for the purpose of breaking wheels off. It has no place in FIRST robotics.