How many people like bumpers?

[Mr.G]

Originally Posted by IndySam

How is the time spent on helping students design their robot with bumpers in mind waste time? I think it is valuable experience.

Our design always works good for the bumpers, that is not the problem. The problem is we spend hours finding the right covering and ordering it, finding pool noodles, and taking them on and off to work on the robot and to get it inspected. They also are probably the thing that needs the most constant maintenance on the robot. And to top it all; man are they ugly and make the robot look wimpy.

This competition takes a lot of peoples time to work with the students and I would rather not spend my valuable time with them on bumpers. There is so much more I would like to teach them in that time like: Gear ratios, leverage, acceleration, vector forces, material strengths, motors speed and power, programming, pneumatics and so much more.

Thanks for your view though.

Edit "They also coverup the most important part of the robot, the drivetrain"