Shielding the Shooter

[chinckley]

I think I am confused about shielding. How can you shield a front loader that also might push balls back out and still collect balls? How do you shield the shooter but still allow shooting?

Wouldn't a ball collector low in front also allow someones corner of their robot to enter the collection area? I've seen pictures of robots with open areas low in front, where it looks like another robot could fit a corner into. Who gets the penalty then?

Also, since I see lots of teams using wheels to shoot out the ball could they cover the wheels and shooter with hardware cloth. Unless you use lexan, ordinary plastic could shatter if wheels got loose.

Just trying to understand SHIELDING.

Thanks
Carolyn