Stacked Balls above 60" limit?

[1574aviad]

Can balls that robots hold in a basket exceed the 60 inch hight limit? (a coned basket, 10th ball in it will be above the top)

[MikeDubreuil]

Originally Posted by 1574aviad

Can balls that robots hold in a basket exceed the 60 inch hight limit? (a coned basket, 10th ball in it will be above the top)

The ball is not considered part of your robot. Any party of your robot, must be 60" or below. Therefore, yes the balls can be stacked higher than 60".

[dhitchco]

Well, if you can somehow "grip" a ball such that the "gripper" is less than 60" in height from the floor, but the ball itself (e.g. the top half) is above the 60" limit, well then, i guess it's legal.

But, I can guarantee you that your robot will be bumped (possibly even targeted) just to put that ball into play....ha, ha, ha.

No wide receiver would ever go into the endzone holding the ball outstretched knowing that it could be batted away! Well, maybe most "smarter" wide receivers.....groan.

[ChuckDickerson]

I don't think so:

<G13> Balls Contained in ROBOTs at the Start of a match - Each ALLIANCE will start a match with 40 balls.
Each ROBOT may contain up to 10 balls at the start of a match. Any balls not contained within the robot
will be evenly distributed between the alliance ball corrals. All of the balls must be contained within the
ROBOT’s 28” x 38” x 60” starting volume and must be clearly visible from outside the ROBOT. The
Head Referee will require that balls outside of the starting volume be removed. It is the responsibility of
the head referee to verify that this rule is satisfied prior to the start of the match.

[Madison]

Originally Posted by DeepWater

I don't think so:

<G13> Balls Contained in ROBOTs at the Start of a match - Each ALLIANCE will start a match with 40 balls.
Each ROBOT may contain up to 10 balls at the start of a match. Any balls not contained within the robot
will be evenly distributed between the alliance ball corrals. All of the balls must be contained within the
ROBOT’s 28” x 38” x 60” starting volume and must be clearly visible from outside the ROBOT. The
Head Referee will require that balls outside of the starting volume be removed. It is the responsibility of
the head referee to verify that this rule is satisfied prior to the start of the match.

Rule G13, as titled, pertains only to balls contained in robot at the start of a match. It does not apply during the match.

[ChuckDickerson]

The original question didn't specify when they want to stack the balls above 60". I assumed that if their bot was going to hold 10 balls during the game it would be in the same configuration at the start of the match which, of course, may not be the case.

[dhitchco]

Agree that a basket of balls could indeed hold one or more balls "above its rim" that may indeed be higher than 60". namely, the rim itself had better not exceed 60" during a match, but the stacked balls could. I can't wait to bump into that robot, thus releasing a few balls into play for SURE!

Another scenario to think about though:
Let's assume that their hypothetical robot has a 30" long arm that can grasp a ball off the floor and then rotate "stiff arm" and toss it like a baseball pitcher.

At the top of the circular arc, the ball itself would be higher than 60", which doesn't appear to be illegal, but the pitching arm itself at it's maximum height can't be more than 60" off the floor and will likely be "measured at the end of a match and/or during size/weight testing prior to a match.

Either way, the chances of holding/carrying/gripping a ball while still being below 60" is slim.

[MikeDubreuil]

Originally Posted by dhitchco

Either way, the chances of holding/carrying/gripping a ball while still being below 60" is slim.

You don't think it's possible to make a basket on wheels that has 60" sides? It's definitely possible the balls could poke over the 60" imaginary plane.

[trev2023]

The question was asked in the Q&A forum and it was answered that the balls may break the 60" plane as long as the robot meets the starting size requirements.

In section 5.3.2.1., rule R08 it states: "The robot may not exceed
the 60-inch height restriction at any time during the match."
My question. If the robot is made to haul balls around, may the balls break the 60" top restriction?

Yes, but you must meet the size requirements for the start of the match specified in G12.