Pic: Flippable robot

[Racer26]

Yes, I agree, as long as the skyward mechanism isn't moving, you're definitely fine. However, I'm interested to see what Q&A has to say about it, because its much simpler to build an invertible drive system that has all wheels running all the time. That's not to say you couldn't do something to solve the issue of G45, because you can, it's just complicated, and keeping it simple is almost always better.

[Brandon Holley]

An idea I have here is that, what if your design was similar to what you have here, with a couple differences. What if you planned to have a main drive side, so that if every match were to go your way, the same 6 wheels were on the ground. However, if you happened to get fllipped over you had a "reserve drive system" on the top. What if this drive system was shorter, so that in its driving orientation your bumpers were no longer in the 10"-16" zone? The goal of this system is simply to keep your robot mobile so you could still play defense, or possibly even hang. Interesting idea I must say...


-Brando

[Daniel_LaFleur]

Originally Posted by 1075guy

My question here, is that obviously the INTENT of this rule is to not have a mechanism on the top of your robot, such as a conveyor belt, to push the ball toward your end. But the letter of the rule seems to make designing an invertable robot difficult.

also; here's another interesting way to interpret it: looking at the definition of a MECHANISM:



My take on this is that the specific INTENDED functionality of those wheels was to DRIVE the robot, as opposed to them being there with the purpose of modifying the trajectory of a ball that happens to land there.

The wheels above your robot are a mechanism because they provide specific functionality (drive power during inversion).

That said, the rules state that the mechanism must be active for it to be a penalty, so as long as the wheels are not active thats not an issue.

Also there is no rule that he numbers on your bumper need to be upright ... just a minimum height, stroke, and readable .

[Gearheads1]

I think the definition of "Normal Configuration" disallows this. Copying from your first post "NORMAL CONFIGURATION – The physical configuration and orientation of the ROBOT when the MATCH is started" Since the orientation between top and bottom is one way at the beginning of the match, I don't know that you can swap them through the match.

[star_lancer]

You might be wary of using this design. If your robot is upside down it may start the ten second grace period stated in rule <G32>. This will mostly be up to the ref. And that opens up a cornicopia of weird situations. Rules about touching balls, interacting with other robots, etc. Really, to cleare this up though, you have to go to Q&A. It opens at noon EST tomorrow.

[star_lancer]

Originally Posted by Brandon Holley

An idea I have here is that, what if your design was similar to what you have here, with a couple differences. What if you planned to have a main drive side, so that if every match were to go your way, the same 6 wheels were on the ground. However, if you happened to get fllipped over you had a "reserve drive system" on the top. What if this drive system was shorter, so that in its driving orientation your bumpers were no longer in the 10"-16" zone? The goal of this system is simply to keep your robot mobile so you could still play defense, or possibly even hang. Interesting idea I must say...


-Brando

I think the ref's would disable your robot if it was driving around with its bumpers outside of the bumper zone.

[Brandon Holley]

Originally Posted by star_lancer

I think the ref's would disable your robot if it was driving around with its bumpers outside of the bumper zone.

So if my robot drove on top of the bump it would be disabled? Because my bumpers are now outside of the bumper zone? I'm just trying to show how some of these rules seem like they can be interpreted in different ways.

[big1boom]

Another issue with a robot such as this is the Robot Status Light. It is required to be visible, and if you have a robot that drives upside down the RSL would most likely be obstructed.

[Chris is me]

Originally Posted by big1boom

Another issue with a robot such as this is the Robot Status Light. It is required to be visible, and if you have a robot that drives upside down the RSL would most likely be obstructed.

You could run more than one RSL.

[butinz]

my team number is 1001 so we dont have this issue

[Leav]

Originally Posted by butinz

my team number is 1001 so we dont have this issue

I think it would be awesome if only teams with rotationally symmetric team numbers are allowed build flippable robots...

[Tuba4]

This should answer the issue of a soccer ball hitting a second drivetrain located on top of a robot:

"If there is a component of the drivetrain, such as a belt/conveyor/wheel, exposed to the top of the robot that is moving/rotating, would this violate Rule <G45> if a ball were to fall on top of the robot and contact one of these moving belts/wheels? I dont believe this belt would be considered a mechanism because you cannot disassemble a belt any further without destroying its function."

GDC
Game Design Committee Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 2,007

Re: Clarification of Rule <G45>

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"Incidental contact with MECHANISMS or COMPONENTS that do not control the direction of the BALL is permitted."