In 2010 we built a robot that was intended to look “Old West”; that is, made of wood with antique brass hardware, and bumpers covered in upholstery-grade full-grain leather. FRC and (hopefully) my team have grown up some since then, but now I’m wondering if leather bumpers would still pass inspection. I’ve searched and seen very little in CD over the last ten years on this subject. Hers what I’m thinking of using:
I could see ways in which leather matches or improves upon the durability and performance of typical fabrics like Cordura without giving an unfair advantage on the field. Realizing this is just asking for opinions, not expecting anything definitive. Thank you all.
Leather’s durable as heck, and quite smooth, but also quite expensive.
However as TechnologyMan stated I don’t know if it’s a cloth.
Honestly the right call might just be to ping @Al_Skierkiewicz and get an unofficial ruling?
(Sorry for ping Al you just seem like the best person to ask about this)
I could tell you what I’d say the definition is but I don’t know what FIRST uses as a definition. However, I can tell you that fake leather is made practically the same way as Cordura (nylon) which is permitted by FIRST.
Though, some fake leather has a wax bonding agent which might throw a wrench into things.
And of course the problem of finding a red or blue bovine to get the leather off of. Paul Bunyan’s Blue Ox Babe perhaps. Plenty of leather available but I don’t think I’d mess with him. Tip o’ the lumberjack cap to Northern Minnesota teams.
I don’t think there’s any such thing as an official definition of cloth. Regardless I don’t think chrome tanned leathers would be anywhere near as durable as heavy cordura or a good technical fabric, and while a moderately heavy veg tan would be durable it would also be extremely stiff compared to normal fabrics and I’d bet it would run into problems with inspection and making the bumpers.
If I wanted to use leather as a bumper material… When Q&A opened for the season, I would ask if leather qualified as cloth under the appropriate rule for bumper material. They are the only ones that can officially answer that. I think it is durable enough. But. It is enough of a corner case that individual LRIs might view it differently.
Hi Patrick, you have reached the heart. I do love good aesthetic bumpers, but there are vanity bumpers for that. I’m actually exploring the options for durability and protective reasons. It’s been a tough year on bumpers.
When we used them in 2010 they worked great and helped us win our first Imagery award, but like I said earlier things were different in that era. I don’t know if they’d hold up to a Charged Up game.
That’s for epoxy work, so it’s not the right stuff for this job; however, I have used Kevlar fabric in the past and have ordered some for this year. Schoeller makes Keprotek, however I’ve only been able to purchase it in red. The blue color options aren’t being sold by anyone right now that I can find. Schoeller also makes a stretch Kevlar fabric in navy blue that I purchased; it has a very rough texture that would be great for playing defense but probably not great for slipping by defenders. The links I’m putting in here are to the two suppliers who have these fabrics if you’re interested.
Yeah, I’m a little obsessed about this. It’s partially my Alpha Psi Omega theater costuming experience coming out, but also as a robot inspector I see so many teams unable to pass inspection, or whose bumpers break and cause them to be disabled in-match, and I’m always looking for ways to improve this aspect of our sport.
