Team Update #2

[Richard Wallace]

I'll take a crack at that one.

Suppose your robot is built to the maximum <R11> horizontal dimensions 28" x 38". Its BUMPER PERIMETER is therefore (2 x 28) + (2 x 38) = 132 inches, so per the 2/3 rule it must include at least 88 inches of bumpers; that is, it cannot have more than 44 inches of gaps in the bumper. You must leave a gap for the trailer hitch, which is 7" long, so you might think that leaves you with 37 inches of available unprotected BUMPER PERIMETER length, so that nearly one full 38 inch side of the robot could be left unprotected.

But you'd be wrong, because of two other requirements: each bumper segment must be at least six inches long per <R08-A> and the corners must be protected per <R08-I>. Applying these two rules, you find that the maximum unprotected length of BUMPER PERIMETER allowed is 38 - (2 x 6) = 26 inches.

A 26 inch unprotected gap will allow your robot to partially envelope one face or corner of an opponent's trailer, as illustrated by the example drawing at the top of page 3 in Team Update #2.

[tiger192]

Rule <R18> secion E states "The Trailer Hitch must be placed such that, as the TRAILER swings from side to side, the first contact between th TRAILER and ROBOT is BUMPER-to-BUMPER and not TRAILER-tongue-to-BUMPER."

Are there any other teams having a problem with this in their designs? With our hitch on a 28" side of our design which doesn't include 90 degree corners on the back, we can not seem to find a way to make our concept account for the trail bumpers hitting the robot before the tongue does.