Overdrive: Least favorite rules

[Mr.G]

The mandatory bumper rule. We have wasted so mush time on them.We built them exactly to the drawings and they are overweight and have to be taken apart now. I was much happier when we could decide if we wanted to use them.

[R.C.]

All the rules are fine, it just makes it more challenging

[octothorpe]

Originally Posted by Mr.G

The mandatory bumper rule. We have wasted so mush time on them.We built them exactly to the drawings and they are overweight and have to be taken apart now. I was much happier when we could decide if we wanted to use them.

Amen. We spend a week waiting for the GDC to tell us how to interpret the 2/3 perimeter rule on the bumpers, hoping that we could glean just a little more space based on our drive train layout. I understand wanting to protect your robot, but shouldn't we be able to choose how much protection we want? It's not 100% coverage so there will still be hard spots and jarring collisions, and the big, bulky bumpers are just design constraints with the current rules. Our entire drive train is 3 inches high, so the bumpers protect 0.5 inches of actual robot and 4.5 inches of empty space that we would have preferred to leave empty.

</rant>

I guess I'll have to recant all of this when that extra bumper saves our robot from being bashed in half at a regional, but until then...

[Cory]

The rule stating the ball must touch another robot or the floor after being hurdled, before you can touch it.

Though not because we wanted to catch the ball on the way down--it'd just be way easier for us if incidental contact was allowed.

[dtengineering]

After mocking up the playing field tonight and going for a drive on it... then picturing it with five other robots and three other balls on it... I've got a feeling that my least favorite rule by the end of the season might be the size of the playing field. It is going to be crowded out there.

Jason

P.S. Please note disclaimer at the end of my earlier post.

[JBotAlan]

Definitely the IR restrictions. Some of us are pretty innovative...I'm sure the Mars rovers get encoded packets, so why can't we send them?

I imagine they are trying to keep the code from needing to be too complex. New teams have difficulty getting commands from the IR board, let alone decoding packets.

But still, I hope this restriction, along with the 80" rule, are lifted at IRI. By then, no team will need them, though...

JBot

[feliks_rosenber]

Rules 38 and 41. The idea behind it was that the rules complete each other.

However, if there is a general restriction according to which you cannot impede other robots passing, then you are not supposed to 'bump' them so that they give you space to pass.

The robots should not block for more than 6 seconds and that is about it.

Otherwise, if you do not 'signal to pass', the blocking robot would not be considered as such by the judges.

Having written that does not mean I dislike the game.

Actually it is more challenging than that of last year, yet it is easier for rookie teams to be more productive.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

My biggest disappointment in the rules is the same ones I've had for the last few years. I feel that the pneumatic rules are too restrictive (only allowing, basically, whats in the KoP).

I believe that they remove a lot of creativity with pneumatics by not allowing teams to use things like Electronic pressure controllers, cylinders with feedback potentiometers, pneumatic actuators (other than the one allowed), Different pneumatic compressors, valves with different CVs and pneumatic motors.

I believe that, instead of only allowing specific cylinders and such, they should require teams to prove that their pneumatic system is safe by showing specification sheets for their pneumatic devices. I also believe that instead of telling teams they can only use 4 clippard volumes, they should limit the volume of the entire system (this is easily checked by putting a known volume of air into a system and looking at the pressure).

The kids (and most of us mentors ) are pretty smart. As such, instead of limiting their options, we should require them to prove that their (pneumatic) designs are safe. Lets see what wild ideas they come up with.

JMHO

[JesseK]

I'm disappointed in the 51" flag post rule. It's a restriction that is both an annoyance and a tragegy all at once.

[Ericgehrken]

Definitely the 80 inch rule in unfavorable. If it wasn't for this rule the game would be a battle of the cranes.

[AndyB]

Not like its a new rule, but I would love if for once they would let us try 2 batteries and/or 2 compressors.

[efoote868]

so, the general overall opinions of "I like this years rules" ?
thats much different from last year. It'll be interesting after week 1 of competition though.

[dtengineering]

I'm betting the least liked rule after competitions... by the refs, too, I suspect, is going to be the "breaking the plane" rule.

After watching our robot drive on a mocked-up field the other night, it became apparent that small corners of robot can easily and inadvertently "break the plane", putting them in the previous quadrant and incurring a 10 point penalty. This will be especially difficult with robots that have longer arms or manipulators that are trying to get control of a ball.

It isn't that the idea behind the rule is bad... it is just that it is going to be very difficult to call consistently without one ref specifically designated for each quadrant dividing line and positioned so that they are directly in line with the quadrant (which would put them smack in the middle of a driver station).

But perhaps GDC has already thought this one through and has a solution of which I am unaware, or it will just turn out to be a non-issue. It might have possibly improved consistency to have a lap counter over each quadrant line and simply assess you a penalty if you trigger the same quadrant counter twice in a row (which is a slightly different rule from what exists now).


Jason

[Ricki E.]

The distribution block.

That thing was a gift from hell.

[smurfgirl]

Seeing as this thread has been revived, I thought about what rules really irked me during the build season... but now that I'm looking back on it, I can't think of any rules that I really disliked. Having made it through all the challenges the rules provided, I can see that the reason for all those rules we disliked in the first place was exactly that- to add another dimension of challenges and difficulty to the game. I really like how it turned out.