A new way to change zones?

Competition Rules/Strategy
1

I think there might be another (albeit maybe not ideal) way to get from one zone to another that I haven’t heard discussed yet.

Drive up to the bump right next to the tower.

Drive over the bump so that the side bumper stays in contact with the outside of the tunnel wall as it goes over the bump, basically by turning slightly into the tunnel wall.

You are free to extend to FINALE configuration while touching the tunnel wall.

Assuming you have some righting mechanism for flipping your overturned robot, this same mechanism will likely be useful in preventing an overturn.

Probably risky in that if you stop touching the tower prior to retracting back to normal configuration, you’ll be penalized.

This depends upon an interpretation that says the BASE of the TOWER includes the tunnel walls exterior faces. The definitions aren’t real clear:

6.2.4
A TOWER is located in the center of each BUMP. Each TOWER is composed of a base and a pipe superstructure. The PLATFORM is the horizontal surface of the base, and provides a solid surface to support ROBOTS during the game. The PLATFORM is 44 inches wide by 36 inches deep, and is at a height of 20 inches above the floor. A 36-inch wide by 18-inch tall TUNNEL under the PLATFORM, providing a passageway between the MIDFIELD and the adjacent end ZONES. The pipe superstructure is built of 1½-inch diameter steel pipe, and is 7 feet tall (at the top of the horizontal pipe elements). The TOWER is designed to support the weight of several ROBOTS. The RETURN BARS are the two horizontal bars at the top of the rear of the TOWER (the side nearest the ALLIANCE WALL). The RETURN BARS support the lower end of the BALL RETURN and are covered in black tape.

It says the TOWER has a base, and the platform is the horizontal surface of the base, but are the tunnel walls part of the base? It does seem clear that the pipes are part of the tower, extending all the way to the floor, since the tower 'is composed of …a pipe superstructure" and “The pipe superstructure … is 7 feet tall…”

Thoughts ?

2

Nice! another interesting idea for traversing the borderlands between zones.
Here’s an idea that I’d like to put out there in the universe. Imagine a robot that would swing across the tunnel by latching onto the tower. We didn’t go with the design because our engineering skills are limited, but I would love to see a swinging “tarzan” robot. For a bonus you could even have a sound clip play of Tarzan’s yell. Of course, not so loud as to interfere with the game and break the rules.

3

I should note this technique only works for the bump nearest your own goal.

4

Im sorry, but I dont wuite understand your idea. How does being able to extend to finale configuration help you get over the bump? Are you just going over normally, but now with the added help of some extendable arms to keep you upright?

5

That’s all there is to it… As I said, it may not be an idea worth pursuing, due to the risks vs. benefits, just throwing it out there.

6

That would be quite interesting. However, since you’d want to this prior to FINALE time, you’d have to be touching the tower before exceeding normal configuration. Hence you have very little swing opportunity, and would pretty much go straight up. The only conceivable way to pull that off would be to touch the tower, extend an arm and latch on, back up, and then quickly lift yourself so that by the time you swing forward you are above the platform. Good luck with that landing…