Hopper Question

[pacoliketaco]

I thought that the hopper to contain the balls must be see-through, but I can't find anything about this in the rules. Does the containment unit for the balls need to be completely clear, or do the balls just need to be partially visible? Where is this in the rules?

[663.keith]

<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.

found in "The Game"

they just need to be seen, so the hopper doesn't need to be totally transparent

[Lil' Lavery]

Additionally, if you have a seperate "magazine" or are using fewer balls, you can just keep the balls in the magazine or launcher and have them visible there.

[Bob Holmstrom]

Is it sufficient to have the balls in the hopper visable only when standing close to the robot and peering over the top into the hopper or do they have to be visable at all times?

[lukevanoort]

Originally Posted by Bob Holmstrom

Is it sufficient to have the balls in the hopper visable only when standing close to the robot and peering over the top into the hopper or do they have to be visable at all times?

I think this would fall under being not clearly visible.

[Madison]

Please be aware that this rule applies only to the state of your robot at the beginning of a match. It is, I believe, so that referrees can easily identify that your robot contains no more than 10 balls.