New Bumper Rule makes West Coast drive Illegal?

[GUI]

Originally Posted by gburlison

So, if i took a West Coast Drive, mounted a 1 in wide strip of 1/16 in thick aluminum on standoffs so that it was as long as the side of the drive and called it part of the frame. The bumpers could then be mounted to this part of the 'frame'. Is this what you had in mind?

Depending how your standoffs were set up, this could provide great support for your bumper and would probably be safe to consider a supporting frame rail. I believe the intent of the rule is to ensure that bumpers are not the sole protection of a robot and they only serve to cushion impacts and safely transfer the force of an impact to the structure of a robot.