Is it possible to have a robot such as the one in the attached picture? There are two parts to the frame on one side, each less than 8 inches. They are colinear. The relevant Q&A is: https://frc-qa.usfirst.org/Question/137/questionlink and the relevant rule is R22.
There is a very clear example of this under R22 that you referenced.
you would have to extend the front bumpers across the gap so that the length of each one was greater than 8 inches, but not so much that there was more than 8 inches unsupported.
It does seem so, but the GDC referenced Q137 as an answer to “Can the right side of the robot in the bottom of figure 4-2 have either segment less than 8 in?” and in Q137 they allow sides less than 8 inches.
Unfortunately,
It seems silly that so many robot frame designs are restricted by bumper rules that only indirectly map on to the shape of the frame. It’s like giving the altitude of a triangle by giving two sides and the angle between them.
A side can be less than 8", but the bumper must continue to wrap around the next corner of the frame perimeter until it covers 8". Check out the general announcements on the most recent update.
I have read the rules; I am looking for opinions on whether the drawing in the OP could be legal. The definition of “side” is ambiguous – in my drawing, the FRAME PERIMIETER is a rectangle, but are there four “sides,” one that has too little bumper and a large space with no bumper, or five, two of which are too short to fit 8 inches of bumper and thus the 8 inches can be “wrapped around”?
Any “wrap around” needs to continue along the frame perimeter. I don’t see a way to do that for the posted picture.
My opinion is your sketch is not legal. Looking at Fig 4-2. You example is there & only legal if the bumper is longer than 8". Figure 2013-01-15 in the 1/15 update still requires 8" of bumper as measured from each exterior vertex. It just allows you to wrap that measurement another exterior vertex. That is my opinion of the update. Do realize it is the inspectors opinion is the that counts.
Other implications of this update. (At least to my meaningless opinion.)
Sides of the polygon do not have to be >8.
So round robot are now legal.
Unlike last year, 1" chamfers at the corners are legal.
The bumper rules relate to robot frame and are measured as such. The bumpers must have a minimum of 8" of robot frame backing measured from each exterior corner. See Fig 4-2 and Team Update 3 for illustration.
Thanks for the help everyone. It turns out we didn’t want to have edges less than 8 inches anyway 