I’ve looked quite a bit through the robot rules, but I wanted to verify with you all that I’m not missing something.
In the past, when there were bumpers, there were requirements about having a rigid frame perimeter. I believe that most of those requirements were for the purposes of making sure that the bumpers had certain lengths of properly reinforced backing and could withstand a hit.
Is there anything in this years game (other than the defined maximum length and width for transportation) that says that we must have a neatly defined perimeter? Specifically, my team is using mecanum wheels for the first time. While our gearboxes, motors, and wheels themselves have all been working to our liking, in a big potential “OH NO” moment, we are now realizing that we don’t have room in our width requirements to add on protective outside plating for our mecanum wheels. While I know this isn’t ideal, and potentially adds a (significant?) risk of us damaging the wheels, I wanted to make sure that it wouldn’t hurt our chances of passing inspection.
If it’s something you could add/remove in <60 seconds and have be secure, that would play well with the Transport Configuration. But the rules this year say nothing about a frame perimeter, and nothing about it being rigid (aside from building robustly).
Thanks for the quick reply. Yeah, we have a few days to try and work around a solution. I just wanted to make sure that our bases were covered if this ends up being our worst case scenario. I’m sure the team will think of something!
There are no rules relating to a frame perimeter this year. Frames can be articulated, unlike in the past. You can build a “mushroom bot”, where the top is bigger than the base. so long as you fit within the transport CONFIGURATION and playing height limit, go nuts!
It sounds like you guys made a form of West Coast drive, where the wheels are on the outside of the robot. This is completely legal, and actually a great drive base for this year!