Posted by Anton Abaya at 1/14/2001 3:16 PM EST
Coach on team #419, Rambots, from UMass Boston / BC High and NASA, Mathsoft, Solidworks.
can we use those to manipulate the bridge?
Posted by Justin Stiltner at 1/14/2001 7:26 PM EST
Student on team #388, Epsilon, from Grundy High School and NASA, American Electric Power, Town of Grundy.
In Reply to: Counterweights on the side of the bridge…
Posted by Anton Abaya on 1/14/2001 3:16 PM EST:
: can we use those to manipulate the bridge?
As long as it is not destructive (like takeing the weights off) I cannot see why you couldent do that
and I want to know what those extra brackets on the side of the ramp are for. Handels I guess.
Justin Stiltner
Team #388
Epsilon
Grundy Va,
Posted by Ken Leung at 1/14/2001 8:02 PM EST
Student on team #192, Gunn Robotics Team, from Henry M. Gunn Senior High School.
In Reply to: Re: Counterweights on the side of the bridge…
Posted by Justin Stiltner on 1/14/2001 7:26 PM EST:
Those brackets on the side are designed to be handles. When the bridge is on its down position, there are no space under it to lift it up, therefore robots can utilize those handles to manipulate the bridge as they see fit. However, they are pretty deep in the bridge, unless you have a long arm, you want to come from the side to reach them. Another way of using them is to utilize the hole in it. You can stay on the bridge, and jam a part of your robot into it and stablize your robot on the bridge, even though you could’ve grab onto the counterweight pipe in the center.
Posted by Kate T190 at 1/14/2001 7:55 PM EST
Engineer on team #190, Gompei, from Mass Academy of Math and Science and Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
In Reply to: Counterweights on the side of the bridge…
Posted by Anton Abaya on 1/14/2001 3:16 PM EST:
(you already asked this once)
The weights are part of the playing field… And so long as you don’t damage anything at all then it should be totally kosher…
T190 XO
Kate
Posted by Anton Abaya at 1/15/2001 1:15 AM EST
Coach on team #419, Rambots, from UMass Boston / BC High and NASA, Mathsoft, Solidworks.
In Reply to: why not?
Posted by Kate T190 on 1/14/2001 7:55 PM EST:
i spoke to her on the phone and she said u couldnt… hence i began to wonder and had to verify in here. thanks guys…
i’ll take it as a yes.
Posted by Joe Ross at 1/15/2001 2:45 AM EST
Engineer on team #330, Beach Bot 2001, from Hope Chapel Academy and NASA/JPL and J&F Machine.
In Reply to: becuz…someone @ first said no…
Posted by Anton Abaya on 1/15/2001 1:15 AM EST:
The answer most likely depends on how the question was phrased. If the question was “may we create an arm to grab the pole and/or the weights above the bridge in order to manipulate the bridge?” then the answer would probably be go ahead as long as you don’t damage the pole and/or weights.
If you asked a different question to FIRST and it wasn’t clear what you meant, you may have gotten an incorrect no answer. for example “can we create an arm to clamp the weights on the pole above the bridge and (insert illegal task here)” the answer would be no, but you would still be able to manipulate the bridge using an arm as long as it wasn’t also breaking a rule.
: i’ll take it as a yes.
You should take whatever FIRST said as the rule, not what we say. The only time that you should question the answer that you got from FIRST is if you don’t think they fully understand the question. In that case you should resubmit your question worded differently
Posted by Anton Abaya at 1/15/2001 10:05 PM EST
Coach on team #419, Rambots, from UMass Boston / BC High and NASA, Mathsoft, Solidworks.
In Reply to: Re: becuz…someone @ first said no…
Posted by Joe Ross on 1/15/2001 2:45 AM EST:
so i really am not sure… i’ll wait for updates. if no new thing is said, then i’ll design based on the written rule… cuz the bible says it so 
ty guys…-anton
Posted by Matt Leese at 1/15/2001 7:13 AM EST
Other on team #73, Tigerbolt, from Edison Technical HS and Alstom & Rochester Institute of Technology.
In Reply to: becuz…someone @ first said no…
Posted by Anton Abaya on 1/15/2001 1:15 AM EST:
I’d go with what FIRST told you. Maybe make it more official by emailing someone at FIRST about it and hope it makes into Team Update 4. But seriously, CD doesn’t make the rules (now that’d be an interesting game…) so if FIRST thinks you can’t manipulate it, you’re out of luck. Verify with FIRST.
Matt
Posted by Justin at 1/14/2001 8:36 PM EST
Other on team Blue Lightning Alumni Association from RWU sponsored by FIRST-A-holics Anonymous.
In Reply to: Counterweights on the side of the bridge…
Posted by Anton Abaya on 1/14/2001 3:16 PM EST:
Well,
Certian teams have discussed actually dropping a counterweight into one of these “handles” so that the bridge would always return to the playerstation side. However my take on doing that is it would be against the rules that say you cannot detatch a part of your robot and leave it on the playing field.
Anyways,
-Justin