Hinged Bumpers?

[droswell]

We'd like to hinge together several bumper sections for easy removal and changing. It seems like it's legal to me, but our team is on the fence. Rules say no actuation, does a hinge multipart bumper count, or is it legal?

[PVCpirate]

I think as long as nothing moves during a match you will be ok. Many teams make one-piece bumper assemblies that go around the robot.

[DonRotolo]

Read the rules very, very carefully. If you do not find anything you are violating, then you are good to go.

I, personally, would not use hinges, but if that's the only way you see to solve the problem, and you cannot find a rule you are violating, go ahead. Just be sure to be ready to back that up at inspection.

[Rynocorn]

No way! We built some prototype bumpers with hinges and grab catches for testing. However, we ended up not using them because we were worried about them being illegal and didn't want to bother

[wilhitern1]

We've had hinges (back when I worked with 3737). But we also had vertical bolts and wing nuts at regular intervals to guarantee hard attachment. Previous year and potentially different venue is no guarantee of success this year.

Neal

This is actually a pretty sweet idea, i would make sure though that it is secured very carefully during a match

[mrnoble]

We have designed our bumpers with door hinges at the inside corner, reversed from their normal position, allowing the plywood to reach each corner. We are using them so that we have a little flexibility to reach our C-shaped bumpers around the edge to fit for attachment. The hinges are quite rigid, much more so than screws, glue or most of the corner-building methods we've used or seen in the past. Once attached to their mounting points on the frame, the bumpers are extremely rigid.