Mechanical

[Administrator]

Reply to this post to ask a question about Mechanical components in your robot.

[GDC Ringo]

My students are designing a tethered "slave" bot to help maneuver the goal carts on the field. Does the robot have to be self contained on one chassis or can a small "piece" of the robot move away from the main robot while still being attached electrically to the main robot?

A: A "slave" bot does not violate the rules however there is a real risk of entanglement (rule <G8>) as the electrical cables snake across the floor or other game elements. If another robot gets caught within the "slave" bot wires, the slave will be immediately disqualified.

[GDC Ring Master]

We have a "fork lift" like attachment that we use both as a baton sweeper/bulldoser and during the end game we will use the fork lift attachment to help lift the rolling goal onto the balancing platform. The intention of our forklift is to both move rolling batons to the low goal and then to use the fork lift attachment to help bring the rolling goal onto the platform. Does this violate a rule? i.e. we have no intention of "flipping a robot/opposing rolling goal" but someone might believe that our device could. Obviously, if we did flip a robot or goal we would be penalized but in absence of malice- can we keep our fork lift.

In general a mechanism that you described is legal since it is not designed to intentionally damage other robots. However if it is designed in such a way that greatly increases the chance of damage even through incidental contact the referees may ask you to remove it.

[GDC Ring Leader]

Would it be legal to disconnect a motor from its gearbox and only use the gearbox. This would be intended so that we could attach an encoder to a free spinning wheel.

The action described is not allowed by the rules. The gearbox is considered to be an integral part of the motor and modifying the TETRIX DC Motor is not permitted.