Important Rules - 2007 Season

[Bharat Nain]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

While music carts may be cool and all, they really don't serve any practical purpose other than being cool, and are kinda distracting in the pit/transit area. Pit+Tools+Distraction=bad

Thank you FIRST for that rule. It gets kind of annoying hearing the same music from the same cart 50 gazillion times and they think they're cool. Everything goes well in moderation.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by lukevanoort

Does anyone know how you could go about finding out if your glasses are ANSI approved? I know mine are some sort of shatter resistant plastic, but I have no idea how to find out if they're ANSI approved. I probably would use goggles anyway (my glasses are rather small) but it'd be nice to be able to just put on the side shields and take off the goggles for a short period of time to let some air in.

I'd look on the package, if you have it. For regular glasses, you'd probably have to ask.

[Joe Matt]

Originally Posted by Lil' Lavery

Personally I plan on going around the pits blasting audiobooks....

iTunes currently has the John Hodgman book available for free Sean......

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/M...94253&s=143441

[Tristan Lall]

Originally Posted by DeepWater

It looks like they have cleared up one of the questions that comes up year after year. You do not HAVE to ship the 2 batteries but you MAY if you want to. I suppose you cannot ship more than 2 though?

I don't see why you couldn't ship more than two. Call it "other equipment".... As long as it's legal in the countries through which the robot is travelling, and safe to transport, I don't see an issue.

But I guess it's time for a robot rules question that follows directly from this: is the (one, I assume) main battery considered part of the robot, and if so, is there any specific exemption from it being shipped with the rest of the robot. I know, I'm being pedantic, but since non-North-American teams aren't supposed to ship batteries in their crates, and yet we're presumably supposed to ship the robot in its entirety, what becomes of the battery (a robot part)? Can a North American team decide it wants to ship zero batteries in its crate, or is it required to pack one as a robot part (detached from the robot, of course), to satisfy the need to ship the entire robot?

Also, though I hesitate to call the crate specifications "rules", you can't really follow all 10, because some of them aren't things that you must do (e.g. "All Crates must: *Don’t use particleboard..." is a grammatical abomination). But despite the poor phrasing, I think the intent is obvious.

[Jeremiah Johnson]

Originally Posted by chris31

Agreed. In the pits it would be a distraction but what about outside of the pits? Well it says " • Do not add music to the cart." so what good are speakers without music.

Removable cd player?

[Raul]

Originally Posted by ChrisH

For the past several years we have been using the same crate. It has a welded aluminum frame and skin on a wood base with provision for forklift handling. When closed it will support a couple of grown men on top (approx 400lbs).

But from the sound of these rules it is no longer acceptable. Have they opened Q&A yet?

BTW at least one damaged crate I saw met the above specifications. But in that case it looked like the damage was not inadvertent. Seeing as it was all in the area around the lock

Chris,

That same rule has been in the manual for many past years. They are not saying it is against the rules to have your crate weigh more than 400lbs. They are just saying that you will have to pay an extra fee at the competition if it does.

Raul

[Donut]

Originally Posted by Raul

That same rule has been in the manual for many past years. They are not saying it is against the rules to have your crate weigh more than 400lbs. They are just saying that you will have to pay an extra fee at the competition if it does.

This is true; are crate last year required $50 extra to ship because it was over the 400 lb. limit. I'm not worried at all about it getting busted though.

[lukevanoort]

Originally Posted by Raul

Chris,

That same rule has been in the manual for many past years. They are not saying it is against the rules to have your crate weigh more than 400lbs. They are just saying that you will have to pay an extra fee at the competition if it does.

Raul

I think what he means is that he's worried about the rule below since their crate does not use OSB or plywood.

All Crates must:
...
4) *Use 3/8” or 1/2” plywood
5) *Use 3/8” or 1/2” Oriented Strand Board (OSB), a solid panel quality with no laps, gaps, or voids.
...

[Ricky Q.]

Originally Posted by lukevanoort

I think what he means is that he's worried about the rule below since their crate does not use OSB or plywood.

I believe the rules have said that wood is required for a couple years. Our crate does not used wood or OSB either and has been perfectly fine.

[Brandon Holley]

As much as some people may think of the music coming form carts as distracting, it really serves a good purpose. We all know how difficult it can be maneuvering your cart from the field to the pit or vice versa...the music may seem obnoxious but it makes life so easy because people who are having conversations in the pit hear the music and immediately move out of the way. If you ask me its helps safety.

[Ian Curtis]

Does anyone other than myself find the following statement rather disconcerting?

Originally Posted by Section 3 "At the Events" 3.3.4

• While competing – mentor, human player, 2 operators

Last years manual refers to coaches...

Originally Posted by Section 7 "At the Events" 7.3.4

Operators, players, and coaches will not be allowed on the competition field without them.

As I see it they have either renamed the coach, which would be rather random but I wouldn't have a problem, or eliminated student coaches.

On the bright side, it looks like we can continue to contemplate the possible duties of the human player as they will be making a return.

[eugenebrooks]

Originally Posted by Andrew Blair

My question- what happened to the "no programming after Ship" ?

This statement also appears in the 2006 crate contents rules,
so I would not get excited yet...

Eugene

[eugenebrooks]

Originally Posted by lukevanoort

Does anyone know how you could go about finding out if your glasses are ANSI approved? I know mine are some sort of shatter resistant plastic, but I have no idea how to find out if they're ANSI approved. I probably would use goggles anyway (my glasses are rather small) but it'd be nice to be able to just put on the side shields and take off the goggles for a short period of time to let some air in.

The following guideline is listed elsewhere in the manual posted so far:
"Approved glasses have “ANSI Z87” imprinted somewhere on the frame."
This rule is very specific.

[Jak DiGriz]

You guys...

It's what, 10 weeks until the first competition, and you all are going through rules on pit behavior and approved safety goggles with a fine-toothed comb! Not only is this ridiculously over the top, there is a good chance that any rule combing done today will be forgotten 8 weeks down the line, and you'll have to go over the rules AGAIN.

Use your time for something more... interesting. Like trying to get the game leaked. All FIRST volunteers know the game 2 weeks in advance. They're just sworn to secrecy and will disavow all knowledge! But seriously. They know the game.

[BobC]

Also once they release game rules, make sure you read the rules before you ask a question in the Q and A area. It seems like 75% of the questions asked are in the rules or repeats of previous asked and answered questions.