PAGE 20, RULE M17
Add the following sentence to the end of this rule:
Gaining traction by using sandpaper or sandpaper-like material is not allowed.
Old Rule:
Robot wheels, tracks and other parts intended to provide traction on the playing field (“traction devices”) may be purchased or fabricated. In no case, will traction devices
that damage the carpet or other playing surfaces be permitted. Traction devices may
not have surface features such as metal or hard plastic studs, cleats or other
attachments. The outer surface of off-the-shelf wheels may be modified by removing
tread material only. In no case may a traction device protrude beyond the bottom
surface of the Ramp mesh.
Gaining traction by using adhesives or Velcro-like fasteners material is not allowed.
Sounds reasonable. I mean most people would assume that sandpaper was illegal just because it is bound to hurt the surfaces. But this being FIRST, sometimes you just have to spell things out.
*Originally posted by D.J. Fluck *
**Team Update 5
Sandpaper is illegal
**
Darn… there went our top secret plan. It’s back to the drawing board for us. We were going to put sandpaper all over the outside of our 'bot and just rub up against everyone else’s 'bots… eventually there would be nothing left of our opposition. Muhahahaha! (Jabba the Hut laugh)
“Hey, Tom, the FedEx guy… you better hold off on that truckload shipment of coarse sandpaper to Kokomo.”
First, no negative points… then we can’t have 10 different arms with all using the same motor… now we can’t use sandpaper on our Skyways… waaaaa!
*Originally posted by Andy Baker *
**Darn… there went our top secret plan. It’s back to the drawing board for us. We were going to put sandpaper all over the outside of our 'bot and just rub up against everyone else’s 'bots… eventually there would be nothing left of our opposition. Muhahahaha! (Jabba the Hut laugh)
“Hey, Tom, the FedEx guy… you better hold off on that truckload shipment of coarse sandpaper to Kokomo.”
Andy B. **
It is illegal to put sand paper around the wheels, but it IS legal to wrap the entire outside of your robot with sand paper and rub up against other people’s robot and sand them until they are all polished and pretty. You just have to build your robot high and able to come down from on top of other robots and rub down against them that way.
I say, call Tom again and have him ship you the truckload of sandpaper again, and have him ship you the finest sand paper there is in the world.
Looks like we are getting a free robot wash from the Technokats this year!!! Let me send an e-mail to WRRF teams and we are all going to sign up for wait list at the regionals the Technokats are going to!
Man, if sandpaper was legal, i can picture it now. A team with sandpaper on it’s treads or wheels gets into a pushing match, and as their wheels or treads spin freely, the sand paper does what it is designed to do, sand. With all that sanding, the robot sands a hole in the HDPE and falls in.
Hmm…could you have sandpaper on it during practices? You could put a nice spinny wheel on the underside of your bot and make like a disc-sander and grind down the HDPE before your match No more smooth surface, no more problem
No more smooth surface, no more problem 