We are having some bumper problems on our 216 robot. one of the sides we need to cover is only 4 inches long. The rules have been interperated in multiple ways, and we don’t know how this one will work. we have our first competition at Traverse City in less than a day, and we dont know how to get the bumpers on.
The ides:
Put the bumpers on vertically (dont think this will work)
Extend the bar into the gap, block part of our opening, but have legal bumpers (would work, but limit our ball collecting)
Wrap the bumpers around corners to leave the pool noodles longer than 6 in. (Is it the plywood or the noodle that has to be more than 6 in?)
“Hard” part of the bumper needs to be at least 6 inches long. Your second option seems the most realistic without any other knowledge of the geometry of your robot.
The hard part of the bumper has to be fully supported (in the manual) so it doesn’t seem like any of those 3 options will work.
If you have 2/3 of the robot covered and a bumper will make first contact with the wall when driving forward you would not need a bumper on that section… can’t really say more having not seen the robot.
If they extend the bar (option 2) and extend the bumper, and the bar is properly braced, which is easy to do, that option will be fully legal unless some other rule is broken in the process.
