Hear me out (illegal or not?),
The rule book did say not to reach into the closed sections of the goals, but since the goals are open-ended pipes that we put blocks in, and the middle is the only enclosed spot, can’t we use a C channel and force the opposite side blocks to come out? Essentially emptying the goals?
although a solid pushing bot can mess with a strafing bot, it can take very little time to line up and score(5 second 6 block cycles seem really likely this year), and X drive at least can slightly fight against getting pushed, and it drives pretty smoothly.
The main thing is that strafing bots are EASY to drive and line up. You CAN do precision lineups with a tank drive, but it’s a lot harder. with how precise the lineups have to be this year (less than half an inch of clearance) there is such a skill level required that most teams won’t even consider tank unless they intend to do defense.
Or super inflated that it stalled all the intakes’ motors.
After thinking about it I like the new expansion rules as it will create more creative robot designs such as a plus shaped robot made of two 12x18 rectangles. However I think there should be a note in the starting size rule that a physically 18x18 robot violates SG2.
Or perhaps maybe the GDC just goofed up…
G3 Use common sense. When reading and applying the various rules in this document, please remember that common sense always applies in the VEX V5 Robotics Competition.
I think it’s fairly safe to assume GDC did not account for the correct diagonal length and is not trying to make a legal 18x18 robot illegal, especially without having a huge disclaimer about that disruptive change in the rulebook. The diagonal length will likely be adjusted in the first update.
I think the issue is we don’t know what the rule actually means.
Supposing you make a 66w x drive with 16.5 watts on each wheel, you might put up some resistance when pushing on a flat side. However, when pushed from a corner, an x drive is half the power of an inline drive.
This is only true if the game object has the same cross section as the goal. Since the object is a deeply champhered block, the tolerance needed to place it is expanded by the depth of the champher.
Do your design process and see if it results in an x drive being the right choice. Just don’t go into the process wanting any particular outcome.
In my experience, students want to build a strafing drive because its fun and looks cool moving around the field. They structure their design process to result in x drive, then discover that they are at a disadvantage in gameplay. Basically, they discover that they biased their design process to create a result.
A possible game breaking way could be to collect all the oppponents octoblocks during auton and then leave your alliance partner to do the scoring
Issue is, most of the opposite color’s octoblocks are on the wrong side of the autonomous line and you would get disqualified if you cross it.
But what about the 12 match loads?
I’m not a huge fan of that rule. Me and my team had an idea of what to build but the expansion rules make it way harder to do
yes it will and it will be very difficult to work around
expansion limits really make that hard me and my team were brainstorming and thought of that but the entire robot cannot exceed 22’ or its a violation.
you would have to be able to atleast be able to hold 22 octaballs for that to work
Also new rule on license plates:
Prohibited Items. The following types of mechanisms and components are NOT allowed: 3D printed Robot parts for any purpose, including non-functional decorations and license plates
Why ban 3d printed license plates?
Keep in mind the horizontal expansion is determined by measuring the two most distant points parallel to the floor. A 15"x16" robot base or a 12.5"x17.5" base are both within the 22" limit, but not by a huge margin.
imma say we call them donut holes
make a vacuum cleaner that sucks all the octoballs up and just store them in the corner
what about qubits? and then calling the goals racks and the loaders silos?