Hello, we wanted to ask if anybody knows whether it is legal to use sticky back velcro on the robot’s drum that we use to lift the robot?
It’s legal on the robot, however you can’t use the hooked part of velcro on the rope so obviously that goes on the robot.
What about the hook part of the Velcro makes it illegal?
It’s not fibers. It’s hard plastic bits. You can’t use something not fibrous as your rope. You can still put it on your robot though.
In one Q&A the GDC deemed that the plastic loops are legal fibrous material. A LRI is unlikely to make a case that a plastic hook-side is not a legal fibrous material if a team brings up this Q&A. In addition, so long as the backing isn’t plastic at the core (like Dual Lock), the binder coating applied to the material may be plastic and still be legal.
I agree that when using both sides, which side goes where may be moot. Yet the technicalities behind ropes this year are a bit confusing at first.