Here's the GDC we know and love

[artdutra04]

If I had to deal with hundreds of questions every day dealing with all kinds of questions (many of which are repetitive), I'd throw humor into the responses just to keep my sanity.

And I still don't understand everyone's dilemma about the bumpers. Cover all your corners on the robot perimeter with at least 6" of bumpers on either side of corner vertex. Must cover at least 66.67% of robot perimeter (string method) with bumpers. Leave opening for trailer hitch, so trailer makes bumper-to-bumper contact. Mount at correct height and fabricate according to instructions.

Unless I'm missing something, it's not that hard to figure out.

[Jared Russell]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

If I had to deal with hundreds of questions every day dealing with all kinds of questions (many of which are repetitive), I'd throw humor into the responses just to keep my sanity.

And I still don't understand everyone's dilemma about the bumpers. Cover all your corners on the robot perimeter with at least 6" of bumpers on either side of corner vertex. Must cover at least 66.67% of robot perimeter (string method) with bumpers. Leave opening for trailer hitch, so trailer makes bumper-to-bumper contact. Mount at correct height and fabricate according to instructions.

Unless I'm missing something, it's not that hard to figure out.

It gets into concave openings into your robot. Prior to the Q&A response where the GDC said that corners must be protected on both sides, many teams (such as mine, and from the look of it 842 as well) assumed that we wouldn't need bumpers on both sides of the corner. Moreover, the rule that bumpers can only be on the BUMPER PERIMETER means that there appears to be no way to satisfy the GDC while having exterior corners of less than 90 degrees on your robot. This makes a lot of designs I have seen on Delphi illegal, and I don't think that was the GDC's intent. For example, harvesters now effectively must drive the "wide" way in order to meet the apparent bumper rules.

Direct, specific questions have been asked by my team and by others in the Q&A forum, and they have yet to be answered. I can only assume that the answers are being withheld for Team Update 3.

[jgannon]

Originally Posted by Abwehr

there appears to be no way to satisfy the GDC while having exterior corners of less than 90 degrees on your robot

Any flavor of triangle or quadrilateral can easily satisfy the bumper rules, even with acute angles. It's only when you start adding more vertices and the polygon becomes concave that things get complicated.

[Jared Russell]

Originally Posted by jgannon

Any flavor of triangle or quadrilateral can easily satisfy the bumper rules, even with acute angles. It's only when you start adding more vertices and the polygon becomes concave that things get complicated.

That's just the scenario that I've been trying to get a straight answer about.

[Killraine]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

If I had to deal with hundreds of questions every day dealing with all kinds of questions (many of which are repetitive), I'd throw humor into the responses just to keep my sanity.

And I still don't understand everyone's dilemma about the bumpers. Cover all your corners on the robot perimeter with at least 6" of bumpers on either side of corner vertex. Must cover at least 66.67% of robot perimeter (string method) with bumpers. Leave opening for trailer hitch, so trailer makes bumper-to-bumper contact. Mount at correct height and fabricate according to instructions.

Unless I'm missing something, it's not that hard to figure out.

What defines the length of the bumper? My team was thinking about angling the bumpers near our "mouth" for taking in balls to give us a larger opening. does the section that is angled not count toward the bumper length/covered length? Also, imagine the two 6 inch bumpers at a 90 degree corner. If we beveled the bumpers to have them join (shown in the rule book) where is the 6 inches measured from?

[Matt C]

Originally Posted by Killraine

What defines the length of the bumper? My team was thinking about angling the bumpers near our "mouth" for taking in balls to give us a larger opening. does the section that is angled not count toward the bumper length/covered length? Also, imagine the two 6 inch bumpers at a 90 degree corner. If we beveled the bumpers to have them join (shown in the rule book) where is the 6 inches measured from?

Wouldn't rule <R08> section O (figure 8 - 4) prevent you from extending the bumper past the edge of the robot and "connect" in any way?

Edited: Actually, you are talking about beveling the noodles, not the backing, meaning that if the 6 inches is applied to the pool noodle you could technically have up to 3.5" of noodle overhanging (per section N), with 2.5" of backing attached to the robot if the 6 inch minimum isn't applied to the backing.

Edited again:
(Update 2 seems to indicate that the 6 inch minimum is applied to the "hard" part of the bumpers (hence the 26" maximum opening after bumpers.)

[GaryVoshol]

The GDC has posted that the 6" is measured for any portion of the bumper containing all 3 elements needed for a standard bumper: Plywood, Noodles and Fabric. Noodles and fabric may be longer than the plywood, but not shorter. You can't use a half wide noodle on a standard bumper.

[Killraine]

Originally Posted by GaryVoshol

The GDC has posted that the 6" is measured for any portion of the bumper containing all 3 elements needed for a standard bumper: Plywood, Noodles and Fabric. Noodles and fabric may be longer than the plywood, but not shorter. You can't use a half wide noodle on a standard bumper.

Would the same be true for calculating if 2/3 of your robot is covered?

[Jon Stratis]

Originally Posted by Killraine

Would the same be true for calculating if 2/3 of your robot is covered?

Yes.

[GaryVoshol]

Originally Posted by artdutra04

Cover all your corners on the robot perimeter with at least 6" of bumpers on either side of corner vertex. Must cover at least 66.67% of robot perimeter (string method) with bumpers. Leave opening for trailer hitch, so trailer makes bumper-to-bumper contact. Mount at correct height and fabricate according to instructions.

Excellent summary. Problem is it took almost two pages in the Robot Manual, a Team Update, and several Q&A to get to that point.

[synth3tk]

I agree that a little humor here-and-there never hurt anyone. Teams relying on the Q&A alone should probably read the manual once-or-twice before attempting to build that super-cool mechanism.

Honestly, it's not hard to determine what's a serious answer and what's not. That being said, I find some of their answers pretty witty and is just what I need during a stressful build season.

[JayZ]

I still think the best GDC response is the one below from 2007(in my signature)

[Justin Montois]

Originally Posted by JayZ

I still think the best GDC response is the one below from 2007(in my signature)

Agreed.

[rwood359]

Originally Posted by GDC

GAME PIECES may become damaged during the course of normal game play. ROBOTS should be designed to accommodate reasonable variations in the condition of GAME PIECES that may occur during the game. GAME PIECES that are identified by field reset personnel with more than two broken and/or protruding straps will be replaced before the start of the MATCH. GAME PIECES will not be replaced while a MATCH is underway.

We need a pool to guess the average number of balls that will have to be replaced after each MATCH.