Can We have twice the team number written on the same side of the robot?
I sure hope so… we didn’t intend to do so, but marked out too many places for the screen printer to print numbers – we only asked for 8 4digit numbers to be printed, by they printed 12 of them since they were marked out on both of the short sides of the U shaped bumpers.
Reading the rules, I could not find any rule that prohibits it.
R31
Team numbers must be displayed on the BUMPERS and meet the following criteria:
A. consist of numerals at least 4 in. high, at least ½ in. in stroke width, and be either white in color or outlined in
white
B. may not wrap around a corner of the FRAME PERIMETER
C. be positioned around the ROBOT such that an observer walking around the perimeter of the ROBOT can
unambiguously tell the Team’s number from any point of view.
So I guess multiple numbers are OK if they meet the part about “unambiguously”, to be determined by your inspector.
That happened to us last year. At the Long Beach Regional, they told us to change it. We quickly stapled some bumper fabric over the extra numbers and they let us go. Maybe they will be a bit more lenient this year.
This year’s rules != last year’s rules.
Are you sure? I don’t know why people are building their robots so small this year. Last year they were all 38"x28" so that’s what we did this year 
So, does that mean that a round robot (which is considered as having an infinite number of corners) can’t have legal bumper numbers ?
My internet sarcasm senses are tingling.
Use common sense instead of legal definitions. If you have your numbers about every 90° on around robot you should be fine.
Circles have zero corners, not an infinite amount, so if your robot was perfectly circular, then technically you wouldn’t need bumpers at all. I imagine you’d be asked to put some on anyways, though.
They even have C) written in a way that doesn’t specify you need it on every side, Just in a way you can see them from any view. The wording is quite different from past years, and totally answers what you would do in the case of a circle.
DonRotolo used COMMON SENSE.
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FIRST/Chief Delphi Community fainted!
To clarify, do you have:
a) two sets of numbers painted/ironed-on one side of the bumper, or
b) one decorative number on your robot (e.g., sticker on Lexan) in addition to a painted/ironed-on number on the bumper?
option a)
Andy,
I believe the GDC has defined a circular frame as having an infinite number of corners and as such needs to have bumpers all the way around.
The GDC posted two rulings regarding circular robots on the Q&A:
https://frc-qa.usfirst.org/Question/203/questionlink
A. For the purposes of [R22], a round FRAME PERIMETER will be treated as a series of infinite corners. As such, each corner would require at least 8 in. of BUMPER on each side. In the example of a circular FRAME PERIMETER, the entire FRAME PERIMETER would require BUMPERS.
And https://frc-qa.usfirst.org/Question/272/questionlink
You’re right, our apologies for the contradiction. Q203 has been refined. For the purposes of [R31], there are no corners.
In other words, for determining bumper coverage, a circular has an infinite number of corners. For determining team number placement, it has no corners.
As Don pointed out, this is using common sense. The intent of the rules is to have the bumpers be the first thing to contact in an impact, and for the numbers to be visible regardless of robot orientation. Of course circular robots are required to have bumpers all the way around, and of course they need numbers on them in a way that unambiguously shows the team number to any observer.
Al,
Could you tell me where you saw this ruling? I wasn’t aware if it, I was only speaking from a mathematical standpoint. Sorry for the confusion.
EDIT: Ninja’d. Thanks Jon.
Since you have a 4-digit team number, I don’t see how having it appear twice on a side will cause confusion. If your team number were 43, for instance, appearing twice could make someone think they were looking at team 4343’s machine.
I’m still waiting to see someone make a round or oval robot. I’ve seen hexagons in the past and an octagon this year. If we retain the perimeter limit to robot size, someone will eventually discover how to make the maximum area for a given perimeter. I’m also still trying to imagine a game which makes that area significant.