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On behalf of the FIRST® Robotics Competitors recreation design crew, I’m writing to share a change coming to the robotic guidelines for the 2024 season. We’re sharing this now to assist groups and distributors make higher knowledgeable selections as they put together for Kickoff.For the 2024 season, groups will probably be restricted to 4 motors that allow the robotic to maneuver across the subject, which we’re calling propulsion motors. This rule is not going to apply to motors that generate small quantities of thrust as a secondary or incidental characteristic, which embody however should not restricted to:
Motors that alter the alignment of a wheel in touch with the sector floor (similar to a swerve steering motor),
Motors that run recreation piece consumption wheels that occur to contact the carpet, and
Motors that change the velocity of the drive wheels utilizing a shifting mechanism with out considerably contributing to propulsion.
We felt this variation was mandatory for a couple of causes:
Robotic to robotic impacts from very quick robots can typically result in quite a lot of what we name “feels unhealthy” moments, similar to robots getting tipped or breaking from fast interactions which have little driver affect. This can be a drawback each for groups affected by the affect and volunteer referees having to make powerful calls which will resolve the end result of the match.
The potential for subject injury from very quick robots is problematic for retaining the sector working each throughout an occasion, and at future occasions the place the sector will probably be used. Excessive vitality impacts also can trigger subject components to maneuver or the sector carpet to stretch, which makes it troublesome to take care of constant enjoying subject dimensions.
We predict this variation is one other step to present groups a extra equal alternative when confronted with monetary or provide chain constraints.
This isn’t a call that the sport design crew takes flippantly as a result of we aspire to maintain the robotic design area as open as potential. Whereas many 2023 robots would have been unaffected by this rule change, we anticipate that the frequency and severity of the excessive affect collisions described above would enhance as extra designs transition to utilizing greater than 4 propulsion motors.
This answer is one among many mentioned; each among the many recreation design crew, and amongst a crew of skilled neighborhood members. We invited the crew of neighborhood members to work on suggestions in parallel, and their work converged on this path too.
The precise wording of this rule will probably be launched at Kickoff. We wished to share the core operate of this rule change as quickly as potential, whereas nonetheless giving ourselves time to work via particulars and precise phrasing.We acknowledge that this rule change is not going to at all times resolve the challenges addressed above, and we’ll proceed to guage this answer and different potential options for 2025 and past. We look ahead to seeing what you convey to the sector in 2024!
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