We’re thinking of making some mods to our bot where it’d end up looking similar to this in the sense that when both mechanisms are fully extended, it exceeds the 19" length limit. Neither mechanism by itself would cause the bot to get longer than 19" throughout its operational range.
We found this in the manual: “For example, a Robot with mechanisms that can extend out of opposite sides of the Robot would be legal, so long as the Robot never exceeds 11” x 19” at any point during the Match. Teams who have the potential to violate this rule should be prepared to demonstrate how they will limit this motion during a Match.”
How would we demonstrate that? In programming skills matches, our code is written so that only one mechanism is being operated at one time whereas the other mechanism is fully lowered thus keeping the length < 19". Would that be sufficient? I could have my drivers swear on a Bible that they’d never operate both mechanisms in a driving skills match…
That would be sufficient. I have experienced some teams in a similar situation when I was reffing for VIQC matches. Honestly, it is up to referees. If you do end up extending past the size limit, you may get disqualified for the match. If that is a risk you are willing to take you can go with that. Another thing that you can try is adding a program to stop one of your mechanisms from moving if the other is in motion.
I know this thread already has a solution and is now a day old, but if your robot does do this they will catch you at worlds inspection. I was off by like 3mm when my claw went up last year and they didnt let me pass
As @Amanda has pointed out, this thread does have a solution but if this helps, the rules do state that if it is programmed into your robot that there is a limit, the robot is still considered legal:
Blue box:
Teams are advised to bear these constraints in mind and develop solutions which eliminate any mechanical risk of a violation. However, using sensors and/or programming to keep a Robot within these constraints would also be within the spirit of this rule.
We have a team that uses the program as a limit so they never break the 19" length although if they fully extend their robot, they will be far outside the 19" limit. I recommend bringing a rulebook to competitions and making sure the students understand the rules and can explain how they make sure that their robot doesn’t exceed the sizing limits. If they are capable of doing that, I don’t see why the referees or inspectors would give them any problems.
