So recently at a tournament in Wisconsin this past weekend, there was a robot that expanded and drove around the center platform and then used pneumatics to park themselves on the platform. However, the mechanism left both sides of their robot hanging over the edge of the platform. Would this apply to SG10?
Don’t clamp your Robot to the field. Robots may not intentionally grasp, grapple or
attach to any Field Elements, including the Platforms. Strategies with mechanisms that react against multiple sides of a Field Element in an effort to latch or clamp onto said Field Element are
prohibited. The intent of this rule is to prevent Teams from both unintentionally damaging the field
and/or from anchoring themselves to the field.
My opinion would be there is no rules violation there. The robot is not at all attached to the platform. They are not attempting to latch or clamp to the platform, so being on multiple sides does not apply.
As the event partner for that particular event, I saw it in operation and I saw no violation. It is not clamping onto the platform, it is merely lifting up high enough so its wheels straddle the platform making it difficult for it to be pushed off. I thought it was quite clever.
I’ve had a cad of this design sitting around since summer but never got around to building it. I’m supper glad someone else did it. Could be a good defense bot as well
