Is this motor legal for FRC

[Dessy]

Edit: got confirmation from a high ranking inspector that it’s legal

[SLAB-Mr.Thomas]

Linear actuators rated for 12V and wired downstream of a breaker 20A or less

You might want to fix the power cable pulling out. I am hopeful that’s a legal modification but that’s up to you to decide.

edit COVID FOG - been in bed over a week and easily influenced and can’t tell the difference between motors (legal) and solenoids (very short leash). Log Out and go back to sleep so I can review my team’s code latter.

[Dessy]

Linear actuators rated for 12V and wired downstream of a breaker 20A or less…. Does it not fit this category and the very end of 9.5

[AdamF]

I don’t think that one applies at this is not a solenoid.

[benjiboy2539]

@Dessy ah yes my apologies. I think you are ok. That is, of course, you keep it on a 20 A breaker or less.

[Dessy]

Check the edit I got confirmation it’s legal

[Aidan-Mundy]

@Dessy

a high ranking inspector

Unless it was one of the two Chief Robot Inspectors (@ChuckDickerson or @Al_Skierkiewicz) or you’re actively at an official event and they are the current LRI, there aren’t “high ranking” Robot inspectors. I think there might be a CRI equivalent for each district? Regardless, I’d be suspicious of anyone who describes themselves as a “high ranking inspector”.

Actually, it’d be nice if there were formal documentation somewhere of the actual Robot Inspector (and Ref, and CSA) “hierarchy” (for lack of a better word). We on Chief typically preach the “Escalate to LRI, then to Chuck or Al” approach for inspections at events, but that’s very obtuse when the role of “Chief Robot Inspector” is only ever mentioned in passing by FIRST’s documentation.

[Jon_Stratis]

@Aidan-Mundy

hierarchy

It’s a pretty flat hierarchy. Inspectors report to the LRI at their event. LRI’s report to the CLRI’s (Chuck and Al). Obviously above everyone is HQ/GDC. LRI’s also have a guy at HQ who acts as our liaison with HQ and the GDC. That’s it for the official hierarchy.

Unofficially, I think most districts or regions will have one of the LRI’s act as a coordinator of sorts - for the FUM area, that’s me. I DO NOT have the power to overrule any LRI at their event, even if it’s an LRI that I nominated and trained for the position. But I do work with the other local LRI’s to make sure we all have an event and all of our events are covered (including off-seasons!), manage off-season training for new inspectors, that sort of thing. All boring administrative type of stuff.

I will tell you that if there’s even a shred of doubt in my mind I post it to the LRI slack so Al and Chuck and Ted can weigh in on anything I might be missing in the rules. Even then, there are some things where we can all agree we have the same understanding of the rule, yet say “it depends” and acknowledge that you need to see something in person sometimes to figure out if it’s legal. I had one of those situations come up earlier this week when a local team emailed me a question. Still waiting on pictures from them so we can even start to form a good opinion.

[ChuckDickerson]

Just for clarification: The title of this thread is “Is this motor legal for FRC”. The motor in the OP image is not, by itself, legal. The linear actuator (as a whole) in the OP is legal as linear actuators (including the original integral motor supplied with the linear actuator) when rated for12V and downstream of a 20A breaker. There is a distinction here. The actuator with the motor is legal. The motor by itself (removed from the actuator) is not legal. So the title of the thread should more accurately be “Is this actuator legal for FRC?”.

Regarding the chain of command for inspections. Its very simple. RI → LRI (at the event) → Chief Robot Inspectors (Al and myself) → FIRST HQ. If an RI at an event and/OR a team at an event has a question then they consult with the LRI at that event. If that collective still has questions and need further consult the LRI has avenues to reach out to Al and myself. If we can’t resolve the questions we consult with HQ staff including Collin Fultz if it needs to be elevated to that level but it rarely does. The bottom line is the entire inspection staff from the RI working with a team to the very top can be consulted for issues and teams should feel no concerns executing their right to bring issues to the LRI on site and the LRIs all know they can reach out to us as needed.

[Al_Skierkiewicz]

The addition of the linear actuator language occurred this year. Chuck brought it up in discussion during our robot rules sessions and we agreed it was a good change to make. In addition, I think I am familiar with the actuator shown as a BAG motor but not marked as such. The language about a 20 amp breaker insures that it is safely used on FRC robots. If Chuck or I cannot point to a robot rule then a team would need to post on the Q&A. That is the only formal method to get a ruling for something not already covered by Robot Rules. As inspectors we support and follow the direction of the GDC.
If you tag Chuck and I in your post, we will get a notification to come and respond.

[Dessy]

Id consider the guy who was the LRI in South Carolina for many years and is now the PDP for the Peachtree district pretty high up there and wouldn’t question his validity.