Balancing hatch on bumpers before a match

Competition Rules/Strategy
1

So, my team is investigating a new hatch intake mechanism. However, with the current starting configuration of the intake mechanism, it cannot hold a hatch. The question being, is it legal to lean a hatch panel on the bumpers in order to stay inside of the starting configuration? After sandstorm starts, the pieces would flip out and we would be all good.

2

I know our team’s alliances partners attempted to have us start with the hatch hanging on a piece of velcro that was attached to the top of our bot. The our hatch arm would come up when match started and hold the hatch. It works as long as you bring arm up before moving robot

1 Like
3

Sure, no reason or rule that prevents this. You can pre-load a game piece almost any way you like, it doesn’t have to be on or in a mechanism specifically. It doesn’t even have to be inside frame perimeter. It just has to be fully supported by the robot.

3 Likes
4

The applicable rule is G1, bullet E:

G1. Know your ROBOT setup. When placed on the FIELD for a MATCH, each ROBOT must be:

  • E. supporting not more than one (1) GAME PIECE (as described in the Setup section).

(The Setup section just describes where game pieces start, including options based on which game pieces ROBOTs stat with.)

You can literally perch that CARGO or HATCH PANEL anywhere on your ROBOT where it is supported by the robot and you are confident it will not roll/fall off before the start of the match. As I read the rule, you may NOT set it on the carpet, leaning it against the bumpers, as the robot is not fully or even primarily supporting it. You may (for example), set it on the frame perimeter, limited by the bumper and some superstructure, then drive off the HAB, back up suddenly so it falls on the floor, and pick it back up.

Note also that supported game pieces are NOT required to start inside the frame perimeter:

I’ve tried to address several versions of what you might be asking. If none of them got it, please try to explain what you’re looking for more explicitly.

1 Like
5

This sounds similar to what a lot of teams did in 2017 with gears (placing it on the side of a robot with no auto and using ground pickup). As other mentioned there is nothing wrong about this according to the rules.

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