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[Jared_Russell]

Any flavor of triangle or quadrilateral can easily satisfy the bumper rules, even with acute angles. It’s only when you start adding more vertices and the polygon becomes concave that things get complicated.

That’s just the scenario that I’ve been trying to get a straight answer about.

[Killraine]

If I had to deal with hundreds of questions every day dealing with all kinds of questions (many of which are repetitive), I’d throw humor into the responses just to keep my sanity.

And I still don’t understand everyone’s dilemma about the bumpers. Cover all your corners on the robot perimeter with at least 6" of bumpers on either side of corner vertex. Must cover at least 66.67% of robot perimeter (string method) with bumpers. Leave opening for trailer hitch, so trailer makes bumper-to-bumper contact. Mount at correct height and fabricate according to instructions.

Unless I’m missing something, it’s not that hard to figure out.

What defines the length of the bumper? My team was thinking about angling the bumpers near our “mouth” for taking in balls to give us a larger opening. does the section that is angled not count toward the bumper length/covered length? Also, imagine the two 6 inch bumpers at a 90 degree corner. If we beveled the bumpers to have them join (shown in the rule book) where is the 6 inches measured from?

[Matt_C]

What defines the length of the bumper? My team was thinking about angling the bumpers near our “mouth” for taking in balls to give us a larger opening. does the section that is angled not count toward the bumper length/covered length? Also, imagine the two 6 inch bumpers at a 90 degree corner. If we beveled the bumpers to have them join (shown in the rule book) where is the 6 inches measured from?

Wouldn’t rule <R08> section O (figure 8 - 4) prevent you from extending the bumper past the edge of the robot and “connect” in any way?

Edited: Actually, you are talking about beveling the noodles, not the backing, meaning that if the 6 inches is applied to the pool noodle you could technically have up to 3.5" of noodle overhanging (per section N), with 2.5" of backing attached to the robot if the 6 inch minimum isn’t applied to the backing.

Edited again:
(Update 2 seems to indicate that the 6 inch minimum is applied to the “hard” part of the bumpers (hence the 26" maximum opening after bumpers.)

[GaryVoshol]

The GDC has posted that the 6" is measured for any portion of the bumper containing all 3 elements needed for a standard bumper: Plywood, Noodles and Fabric. Noodles and fabric may be longer than the plywood, but not shorter. You can’t use a half wide noodle on a standard bumper.

[GaryVoshol]

Cover all your corners on the robot perimeter with at least 6" of bumpers on either side of corner vertex. Must cover at least 66.67% of robot perimeter (string method) with bumpers. Leave opening for trailer hitch, so trailer makes bumper-to-bumper contact. Mount at correct height and fabricate according to instructions.

Excellent summary. Problem is it took almost two pages in the Robot Manual, a Team Update, and several Q&A to get to that point.

[synth3tk]

I agree that a little humor here-and-there never hurt anyone. Teams relying on the Q&A alone should probably read the manual once-or-twice before attempting to build that super-cool mechanism.

Honestly, it’s not hard to determine what’s a serious answer and what’s not. That being said, I find some of their answers pretty witty and is just what I need during a stressful build season.

[flightofone]

I think the GDC has a GREAT sense of humor, and really appreciate the job they do. Keep it up.
btw: the bumper issue seems crystal clear at this point.

[Killraine]

The GDC has posted that the 6" is measured for any portion of the bumper containing all 3 elements needed for a standard bumper: Plywood, Noodles and Fabric. Noodles and fabric may be longer than the plywood, but not shorter. You can’t use a half wide noodle on a standard bumper.

Would the same be true for calculating if 2/3 of your robot is covered?

[Jon_Stratis]

Would the same be true for calculating if 2/3 of your robot is covered?

Yes.

[JayZ]

I was just perusing the manual at 1 o’clock in the morning (for fun, of course ) and i found this (pic attached) in the parts use flow chart. Didn’t Dave say something a few years ago about gerbils? Either way, I know how my team will get extra power when the battery runs out

[Taylor]

I think they’re at it again.

“As long as the laser is not exposed and does not pose any potential eye hazard, this would be permitted (as long as the use of the optical mouse does not provide any tractive force).”