question about lexan

[koka230]

my team has the lwxan sides made for tyhe robot and they are currently being stickered by the man the stickers them (lol) well anyway is possible for me to keep the sides of the robot and get them stickered or do i need to retrieve them and send them with the robot?

thanks alot
Scott
Team 388

[EricH]

Originally Posted by koka230

my team has the lwxan sides made for tyhe robot and they are currently being stickered by the man the stickers them (lol) well anyway is possible for me to keep the sides of the robot and get them stickered or do i need to retrieve them and send them with the robot?

thanks alot
Scott
Team 388

All of the robot needs to go in the crate. You'll need to retrieve them before the crate is closed tomorrow.

[Jetweb]

If the panels are a " non-functional decoration" than i dont think they have to be shipped in the crate.

But i have been wrong before....

[Vikesrock]

I can't imagine a lexan cover being non-functional. Almost any attachment method (perhaps excluding zipties) strengthens the members it is attached to and prevents balls and/or other robots from crashing into unwanted areas.

[koka230]

it is the outside protection of the robot i just couldn't remember the rule on that

[Jetweb]

if its a protector than you have to ship it.

[koka230]

ok thanks everyone for the help it is greatly appreciated

[Matt C]

You could make covers out of some other material that are functionally the same and use these lexan panels as replacement parts. I am sure that because these lexan panels have already been fabricated, that they would be legal replacement parts. As long as you adhere to the INTENT of the rules there should not be any issues.

REPLACEMENT PARTS – A COMPONENT or MECHANISM constructed as a functional duplicate of
an existing part of the ROBOT, for the purpose of replacing a broken or defective part. REPLACEMENT
PARTS may be either COTS items or FABRICATED ITEMS. They must be functionally identical to the
original part but can be modified to provide more robust performance of the function.
 Example 1: A lever arm made of lexan on your ROBOT breaks. You manufacture a
REPLACEMENT PART made of aluminum plate, using the design drawings of the original. As
the new part provides the same function as the broken part, the new part is a valid
REPLACEMENT PART.

<R31> At the competitions: Teams are allowed to repair, modify or upgrade their competition
ROBOT while participating in a competition event. To support this, teams may bring
SPARE, REPLACEMENT and UPGRADE PARTS and COTS items to the competitions
(within the limits specified in Rules <R40> and <R41>).

<R41> Teams may bring a maximum of 25 pounds of custom FABRICATED ITEMS (SPARE
PARTS, REPLACEMENT PARTS, and/or UPGRADE PARTS) to each competition event to
be used to repair and/or upgrade their ROBOT at the competition site. All other
FABRICATED ITEMS to be used on the ROBOT during the competition shall arrive at the
competition venue packed in the shipping crate with the ROBOT.

<R29> During the “FIX-IT WINDOWS” following the shipment of the ROBOT: During this period,
all teams may utilize up to 10 hours of FIX-IT-WINDOWS to manufacture SPARE and
REPLACEMENT PARTS and develop software for their ROBOT at their home facility.
Fabrication of UPGRADE PARTS is not permitted during this period. The timing of these
“FIX-IT WINDOWS” is at the discretion of the team. However, the total time utilized as FIXIT
WINDOWS during this period must not exceed 10 hours, and all work must be completed
by 5:00pm on the Saturday following the ROBOT shipment deadline. Teams may
manufacture all the SPARE and REPLACEMENT parts they want, but the amount of parts
they can bring to a competition event is limited (as specified in Rule <R41>).

Again, this is assuming that the panels require NO ADDITIONAL WORK to be a functional part of the robot. Of course, I would probably get the panels back, take measurements of the areas to make stickers for, then ship them with the robot if I could.

[D_Price]

They need to go with the crate. The whole robot needs to go.

[Matt C]

So if you made new panels, installed them in the robot prior to shipping, and brought the old ones (assuming all fabrication was done prior to ship) as replacements, they wouldn't be legal? Also assuming they are under 25 pounds. Depending on the complexity of these sides, they could be straight plates mounted vertically that have the sole purpose of displaying their team's name, number, and sponsor.

[EricH]

Originally Posted by Matt C

So if you made new panels, installed them in the robot prior to shipping, and brought the old ones (assuming all fabrication was done prior to ship) as replacements, they wouldn't be legal? Also assuming they are under 25 pounds. Depending on the complexity of these sides, they could be straight plates mounted vertically that have the sole purpose of displaying their team's name, number, and sponsor.

They would be legal. HOWEVER, all work would need to be done before ship or during a Fix-it window.

[GaryVoshol]

My previous answer was wrong. See http://forums.usfirst.org/showthread.php?t=8797