pic: MARS 1523 Finished Robot



Not sure if you’re finished just yet…that concave front looks pretty illegal.

yep, what he said.

Can one of you cite the rule which you think makes the concave front an issue?

im guessing the bumper rule

So long as bumpers are used to cover 8 inches on each side of each corner, there doesn’t appear to be any issue with the bumper rules.

The bumper rules don’t have any restriction on the angles at which the bumpers (or the sides of the robot) meet.

*[R01-2]
The Robot must have a Frame Perimeter that is comprised of fixed, non-articulated structural elements of the Robot. The Frame Perimeter of a Robot is defined by the outer-most set of exterior vertices on the Robot that are within the Bumper Zone, which is between 2 and 10 in. from the floor. Minor protrusions no greater than ¼ in. such as bolt heads, fastener ends, and rivets are not considered part of the Frame Perimeter.

To determine the Frame Perimeter, wrap a piece of string around the Robot at the level described in [R02]. The string describes this polygon.

Note: to permit a simplified definition of the Frame Perimeter and encourage a tight, robust connection between the Bumpers and the Frame Perimeter, minor protrusions such as bolt heads, fastener ends, rivets, etc are excluded from the determination of the Frame Perimeter.

The carpet, the Bridge surfaces, and Keys are considered the flat floors – and thus are the reference planes for the Bumper Zone requirements. A Robot in a transitory state of crossing onto/off of a Bridge or Barrier is not considered to be on a flat floor.

So if you put that string around you robot, that is where you bumpers must be. Your setup is illegal.

To elaborate on IndySam’s post:

The string will define your frame perimeter.

Rule R27 says:

[R27]

Robots are required to use Bumpers to protect all exterior vertices of the Frame Perimeter. For adequate protection, at least 8 in. of Bumper must be placed on each side of each exterior vertex (see Figure 4‑1, Figure 4‑2, and Figure 4‑3).

Therefore you need at least 8 inches of bumper on each side of the front corners of your robot, right?

Rule R33 says:

[R33]

Bumpers must be supported by the structure/frame of the Robot (i.e.** each end of the Bumper must be rigidly attached to the Frame Perimeter**, the gap between the backing material and the frame must not be greater than ¼ in. and no section of Bumper greater than 8 in. may be unsupported). See Figure 4‑7.

Those concave front members ARE NOT part of your frame perimeter (frame perimeter is defined by the string, remember?)

How are you going to attach 8 inches of bumper to the front of your robot and have it rigidly attached to the frame perimeter?

The rules have pretty well ruled out robots with a concave front.

Where is the circuitry?