http://forums.usfirst.org/showthread.php?t=11494
So which is it? The rule seems to indicate that as long as the trailer is touching the wall and the whole assembly is inside the LAUNCH PAD we’re good to go. The Q&A qualifies it to say the back corner of the trailer must be touching the wall.
They don’t seem to contradict to me, it looks like the QA just adds more constraints. How I read them together it sounds like the end opposite the trailer hitch has to touch the arena and as long as the robot fits inside the launch pad it can be oriented at whatever angle it wants.
Yes, I may be nit-picking. I presume the dimensions of the LAUNCH PAD prevent too much slop here. But I could envision a team that places their robot to the far right of the PAD with the trailer to the far left, with the hitch at maximum angle, resulting in the side of the trailer touching the wall (not just the vertex). I’m wondering if this ruling means that the trailer must be positioned 90 degrees with respect to the wall. I guess I wonder what “flush” means.
Because the trailer tongue is attached at a corner of the trailer, not on a face, the end opposite the tongue is a corner as well. I would think this should give a fair bit of wiggle room to be “flush” and still have something of an angle on it.
One of our autonomous modes is optimized if the trailer touches the wall not at the rear vertex. I suppose we should take the Q&A constraint as ruling that starting position out.