Are you actually using bumpers?

[Tristan Lall]

Originally Posted by Elgin Clock

If they were mandatory to be on your robot I would agree with you, but requiring an optional item to be shipped within a deadline of 6 weeks when some teams don't think they want to use them until week 5 or 6, just is not right by my thoughts.

If it is optional, I don't see why it can't be made after week 6, and brought to the competition when you arrive on Thursday.

To me, that boggles my mind.

What about teams who come to their first regional expecting to not use bumpers, and then want to use them between their first regional and second, or regional and Championship event.

Are they not allowed to make bumpers, cause they had to be made (and shipped with the bot) within the 6-week time?

Almost everything else is optional; why do we have to ship our (optional) CIMs with our (optional) kitbot frame? I think that it's pretty clear that the rules specify that bumpers must be produced within the limits of the robot construction rules. As such, the team that decides at their first regional that they want to use a bumper may construct it there, or they can use a post-competition fix-it window (but not the post-ship-date fix-it window) to make their upgrade. If they make it between the ship date and the first regional competition, they're cheating.

[Steve W]

From the definitions :
FIX-IT-WINDOWS – Two 5-hour work periods following the deadline for shipping the robot, or following the close of a regional competition, in which ALL teams may manufacture parts in preparation for future competitions.

Straight from the rules. The Q&A is misleading in their answers. According to the rules you may build and bring with you to competition 25 lbs.

<R29> Teams may bring a maximum of 25 pounds of custom FABRICATED ITEMS (SPARE PARTS, REPLACEMENT PARTS, and/or UPGRADE PARTS) to each competition event to be used to repair and/or upgrade their robot at the competition site.

However : <R17> During the “FIX-IT WINDOWS” following the shipment of the robot: During this period, all teams may utilize one or two 5-hour FIX-IT-WINDOWS to manufacture SPARE and REPLACEMENT PARTS and
develop software for their robot at their home facility. Fabrication of UPGRADE PARTS is not permitted during this period.

Then : <R19> At the competitions: Teams are allowed to repair, modify or upgrade their competition robots while participating in a competition event. To support this, teams may bring SPARE, REPLACEMENT and UPGRADE PARTS and COTS items to the competitions (within the limits specified in Rules <R28> and <R29>).

From all of this I believe that you can build and bring the bumpers with you to competition as they must weigh under 15 lbs. There are more rules to support building them after end of season than there are to say you can't. I have yet to see it stated that the Q&A's are official. That is what the updates are for. I had someone last year tell me straight up that they enforce the rules not the Q&A.

It is still your call on how you handle the situation.

[Arefin Bari]

Originally Posted by Chriszuma

Well I'm sorry I just sort of assumed they wouldn't look good, but i think pool noodles and fabric just wouldn't fit well with our theme of shiny objects (the T3 mantra: "If it's not shiny, what's the point?")

Team 68 always comes up with a good robot, they caught my eyes back in 2002 at the championship.

... this is what I think, if your robot is really shiny and it isn't consistant, there is no point to it. I would much rather have an ugly robot that does what it suppose to do constantly.

[Chriszuma]

Originally Posted by Arefin Bari

Team 68 always comes up with a good robot, they caught my eyes back in 2002 at the championship.

... this is what I think, if your robot is really shiny and it isn't consistant, there is no point to it. I would much rather have an ugly robot that does what it suppose to do constantly.

Who says you have to choose?

No bumpers for our robot, how about 1/16" aluminum plate all around?
And what is this, anodized black??? Oh the horror.

Ah yes, armor plating. We bolted some 1/8" aluminum on the front of our bot last year after judges were ignoring a lot of ramming at the BoilerMaker regional. (Anodized black would look sweet. I don't know of anywhere around here that anodizes though, maybe I have to look harder)

[jonathan_powers]

its hard to find noodles in the winter but we did it was a fun road trip for me and the guys too

[TimCraig]

We're using bumpers mostly because we don't want overzealous zebras throwing flags about illegal contact if we didn't have them. The front and side bumpers do take some planning for going up the ramp. I personally don't think the added weight will make that much difference in traction and it will be that much more weight to have to accelerate.

[Wayne Doenges]

Team 1501 will not be using bumpers.
With our design we could not get up the ramp without dragging them on the carpet.
IMHO, I think FIRST should have been a little more lenient. Why couldn't they say use the pool noodle(s) and keep them in the 2.5" to 8" range. We could have put one noodle all the way around or bot without any problem.
*puts flame suit on *

[arabsponsor]

Originally Posted by Chriszuma

I know that my team kind of brushed aside the notion of spending extra time, money and energy to add bumpers that will make our robot look less cool and less maneuverable. We also kind of figured that most teams will have them anyway, so it would be unnecessary (kind of the "If everyone else is a good driver I don't have to be" approach). We also don't feel like the 15 pounds will be anything close to a deal-breaker when push comes to shove.

Anyway, I was wondering how many teams actually are going to add bumpers, and whether or not it will affect the competition at all. Your thoughts?

(A search turned up only a 2002 thread about bumpers, not really applicable anymore)

Our team originally planned on skipping the bumpers. In the past our frame has never been damaged. The more we have considered what other teams may be bringing to the competition we have changed our mind. We feel that there are going to be a lot more bots whose main function is defense. It could get a little ugly. Those of you with ramping problems, have you thought about using the bumpers on just two sides? Just a thought.

[Salik Syed]

we are doing bumpers just because of the added 15 lbs... and ours will look cool

[lukevanoort]

We're just planning to take some pool noodles that we already have and maybe some fabric to VCU. If it turns out we need the, we'll nip down to the hardware store, grab some plywood and bang out a set of bumpers. (Not pretty bumpers mind you) Personally I've advocated them since the beginning, but others don't agree.