In the video referenced above, a robot is participating in the programming skills challenge. The robot implemented a flipout holonomic drivetrain. As can be seen, this causes the width of the robot to increase from say ~18" to ~24". These flipout extensions allow the coach to interact with the robot and move it farther than a “normal” 18" wide robot.
My question is this: how long can an extension of the robot be before human interaction should not be allowed? Common sense tells us that a string of zipties anchored at one of the alliance tiles is illegal. Similarly, humans can’t step on the field so that is another limitation. However, what is the limit on these extensions?
Apologies if the video isn’t uploaded yet, I uploaded it for this question.
Thanks in advance!
There are no limits on how far a robot can expand. However any long extensions would be subject to scrutiny in terms of being an entanglement risk. A long chain of zip ties for example would most likely be deemed a risk of entanglement, and thus illegal.