The bumper rules state that the numbers must be white or outlined in white. Does the color inside have to be a solid color or can it be a gradient of two colors?
As long as it is outlined in white, and unambiguously your team number, you’re fine. For instance, I probably wouldn’t gradient red on your red bumper 
R26 says Red or Blue Bumpers
R27 allows white numbers, or numbers outlined in white. The implication being, an outline of what is underneath, which is either Red or Blue.
That is not a valid implication, nor does your implication match what is stated in the rules. “be either white in color or outlined in white”. Please, explain how black numbers (or green, or tied-dyed!) that are outlined in white don’t meet this rule.
That implication is not in the rules. There are several teams I am aware of, most notably 118, who outline a color other than red or blue with white and pass inspection regularly. In 118’s case, their numbers are gold and have been gold since as long as I’ve been in Texas.
Stinking number bumper rules…
Outlined in white, 0.5" thick, is as far as I’ve ever heard it. 27, 67, 33, and 118 are great examples that repeat yearly.
I know the rules allow for some creativity but please be kind on us GAs and keep them simple
We are going white outline for the first time:
I stand corrected. I failed to avoid reading more into the rule than was written.
You didn’t fail to avoid reading more into the rule… you succeeded in avoiding it.
(lol)
My question to teams who are trying to design a compliant numbering is this:
You really want to be playing on Saturday afternoon, don’t you?
If the strategy people in the stands can’t read your team number when you play, you might not get on their lists.
Exactly. Color your numbers as long as they stay within parameters, but make sure they’re readable.
Exhibit A, bumpers I made in 6 hours:
http://i.imgur.com/9hAnHNsl.jpg
They may be plenty white and large, but with such little spacing between lines, it’s incredibly difficult to read from the stands as I learned.
Those look incredible, nice work.
Pure tyranny!
I’m always amazed by how terrible bumper numbers look at the competition, and how many teams are stapling paper, painting, taping and generally throwing together bumpers out of trash at competition. Maybe it’s my design background, but I take pride in robust, well-designed bumpers, even if they are wrapped around an embarrassing shamble of a robot!
Exactly. Bumpers can make or break a robot’s look.
The one universal question from inspectors is “If they spent so much time making a great, pretty looking robot, why are those bumpers so ugly?”
548’s excuse is that our intake did not extend out enough to make the vectored intake wheels clear the bumpers.
Given stories about and examples of bad bumpers, what resources are available to teams, especially rookie teams, to help them make better bumpers?
Asked differently, what resources should be available?
When I started in FIRST, I noticed that most students who joined the robotics competition were not interested in building bumpers. As we’ve seen the bumpers are one of the dominate visual aspects of the robots and provide strong first impressions of the robots.
I was lucky to find that somewhere in my background was some training and experience transferrable to making bumpers that I could share with my team. I’m happy to share that through this forum. I would like to know where most of the questions are. What are the low hanging fruit (i.e., what simple things will have big impacts to teams)?
Is there an FRC Bumper FAQ or list of quick links that teams can use to start effectively building their own bumpers?
Thanks.
Rick, those look gorgeous and 78 has always presented an amazing aesthetic. How were these numbers created and attached to the bumpers?
103 has used a number of different ways in the past, but I am also curious about what other teams use.