BUMPER PERIMETER

[GaryVoshol]

The green bumpers in the above illustration could count as standard bumpers, with all the benefits and requirements of such: Not included in weight and size, must cover 2/3's of the Bumper Perimeter, etc. The red bumpers would not count as standard bumpers, and must be included in size and weight. Nor would they have to follow all the bumper build rules in <R08>. (Actually, a small corner of each red bumper is outside the bumper perimeter, and would have to be trimmed off.)

Originally Posted by Petey

Does this mean that a trailer striking these bumpers would be in violation of the rule that it needs to hit bumper first?

No, I don't believe so, as long as you're not talking about the trailer you're towing.

In other words, if the rear of your robot is concave in the way I diagrammed above, and you kept the trailer nestled in close, would it be against regulations because the bumpers within the concave shape are not "real" bumpers because they lie within and not along the perimeter?

This seems like a very confusing rule!

If the trailer you are talking about is the one attached to your bot, well Team Update 1 took that away from us. You can't attach the Trailer Hitch in the concave section of the illustration, between the red bumpers, because the Hitch has to be on the Bumper Perimeter.

[Petey]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

No, I don't believe so, as long as you're not talking about the trailer you're towing.

That's what I was talking about; our original plan was to store the trailer nestled in that space to help stabilize its motion. But

If the trailer you are talking about is the one attached to your bot, well Team Update 1 took that away from us.

Exactly.

[m^3]

Instead of a recess on the rear to help protect your trailer, what if you made a hexagonal cutout on the front that would that act as a guide to help your robot more accurately dump into an opponents trailer? Is this allowable? We couldn't find any specific rules against it... you aren't attaching to the trailer, only "fitting" up to it momentarily to dump your moonrocks. Bumpers could line the recess, but they wouldn't count as legal "bumpers" and lessen chances of inadvertant attachment or damage to the trailer. Does anyone know if this would be legal? There is a rule that robots must contact bumper to bumper, but what about the trailer?

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by m^3

Instead of a recess on the rear to help protect your trailer, what if you made a hexagonal cutout on the front that would that act as a guide to help your robot more accurately dump into an opponents trailer? Is this allowable? We couldn't find any specific rules against it... you aren't attaching to the trailer, only "fitting" up to it momentarily to dump your moonrocks. Bumpers could line the recess, but they wouldn't count as legal "bumpers" and lessen chances of inadvertant attachment or damage to the trailer. Does anyone know if this would be legal? There is a rule that robots must contact bumper to bumper, but what about the trailer?

I don't see any problems with this, but you should check Q&A to be sure.

You still would not be allowed to contact the upper structure of the trailer, under the liberal <G29> interpretation found in Team Update 1.

[m^3]

Rules update 2 seems to confirm the legality of this, but they note that the bumper rules limit the size of the opening 26" centered on the front of a "wide" robot (minimum 6" bumper on each side of opening).

From update 2, section 8:

In the case of the archetype “wide drive” robot with a centered opening on the front of the robot, this can result in a significant limit on the size of the opening. This limits the ability for incursion inside the bumper perimeter by the trailer. See the example below.

[Jared Russell]

There are still major interpretation issues that need to be addressed by the GDC ASAP.

Namely, the GDC wants us to only put bumpers on the BUMPER PERIMETER, and yet corners must be protected on both sides. This would preclude a LOT of the designs I have seen on Delphi this year.

[MrForbes]

They did address it, in their round-about way.

It appears that half of the robots in the game animation are illegal, because they don't have BUMPERS on both sides of every corner of the ROBOT PERIMETER.

[tiger192]

Our team is having similiar problems with this rule. It seems that to comply with all the bumper rules AND the trailer tongue rule, pretty much the only shape the back end of a robot can be is square? What is the length of the trailer tongue that extends out of the trailer? The trailer BUMPER to BUMPER rule really limits the shape of the back end of the trailer.

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by tiger192

Our team is having similiar problems with this rule. It seems that to comply with all the bumper rules AND the trailer tongue rule, pretty much the only shape the back end of a robot can be is square? What is the length of the trailer tongue that extends out of the trailer? The trailer BUMPER to BUMPER rule really limits the shape of the back end of the trailer.

The back does not need to be square

The back can bulge out, but not in.

[natraps117]

does anyone know if the space for the trailer hitch on the robot is included in the 2/3 required for the bumpers?

[EricH]

Originally Posted by natraps117

does anyone know if the space for the trailer hitch on the robot is included in the 2/3 required for the bumpers?

Apparently it isn't. If you aren't sure, ask Q&A.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by natraps117

does anyone know if the space for the trailer hitch on the robot is included in the 2/3 required for the bumpers?

Originally Posted by EricH

Apparently it isn't. If you aren't sure, ask Q&A.

Let's be careful to define the question here.

A robot's BUMPER PERIMETER is measured independent of the Trailer Hitch (measured as if the hitch wasn't there). Two-thirds of this perimeter distance must be covered with BUMPERS. At least 7" of space at the location of the Trailer Hitch cannot be covered with a bumper. Therefore some other location on the frame will have to have bumpers to make the total at least 2/3's.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by squirrel

It appears that half of the robots in the game animation are illegal, because they don't have BUMPERS on both sides of every corner of the ROBOT PERIMETER.

I count 2 of the 6 being clearly illegal - Cannonbot and Dave's favorite Bulldozerbot. Tennisbot is questionable; it would be interesting to see why the GDC would think it legal or not. The opening is not between two faces of a flat side, which compares to 842's Carmen, the only difference being the angle at the opening.