New Bumper Rule makes West Coast drive Illegal?

[Raul]

Originally Posted by Alan Ing

I was reading through the robot rules and came across this.

Rule <R08> M says:

"The entire length of the BUMPER backing must be supported by the structure/frame of the ROBOT (i.e.) the backing material must not be in "free space" between or beyond attachment points) (see Figure 8-3)"

Wouldn't this make most cantalevered live axle drive robots Illegal? We have basically used our own version of the so called west coast drive chassis similar to 254, 60, 968 and others and have floated our bumpers on the outside of the wheels using brackets attached at various points at the end of the frame and between the wheels. If I understand this correctly, I now have to have a full frame member along the complete length of the wood bumper backing which would really defeat the purpose of having cantelevered wheels.

Anyone else come up with the same interpretation? Might as well just use the Kit Chassis.

It might be rather simple to get around this since the wheels are about 6" in diameter. Here is how:
Add a nice solid member just above your 6" wheels that is attached solidly to the rest of your frame. Since the bumpers zone is from 1" above the floor to 7" above the floor, a solid member 6.1" above floor could be used to support your bumpers along with a few columns between the wheels.
I am assuming this will be accepted. But it is not clear how far vertically the uniterrupted support structures must extend. So, I guess a question should be submitted about this.