Robotics Education & Competition Foundation
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Official Q&A: VRC 2018-2019: Turning Point

Usage Guidelines All Questions

1: Plastic alterations


80110H
14-May-2018

As per <R7> Robots are allowed the following additional "non-VEX" components: ~ ~ e. Non-shattering plastic from the following list; polycarbonate (Lexan), acetel monopolymer (Delrin), acetal copolymer (Acetron GP), POM (acetal), ABS, PEEK, PET, HDPE, LDPE, Nylon (all grades), Polypropylene, FEP; as cut from a single 12" x 24" sheet up to 0.070" thick. ii. Plastic may be mechanically altered by cutting, drilling or bending etc. It cannot be chemically treated, melted or cast. Heating polycarbonate to aid in bending is acceptable.

I wanted to ensure the following mechanical alterations and the results of such alterations would be allowed to make inspection easier.

1: splitting of a plastic sheet along the plane defined by the 1' x 2' dimensions, resulting in multiple sheets thinner than 0.070" in thickness

2: repeated application of force by rollers to a plastic sheet, resulting in a thinner sheet with a larger surface area.

Additionally, I wanted to ask for the allowance of use of multiple 1' x 2' sheets of legal plastic, such that the total thickness of all sheets combined do not surpass 0.070".

R7  
Answered by Game Design Committee

The key line from R7 is "as cut from a single 12" x 24" sheet up to 0.070" thick". Practically, this means that you can cut a single 12"x24" piece of any thickness (up to 0.070" thick) into individual parts of that thickness, and if those pieces were laid out as puzzle pieces, they could be reassembled back into a 12"x24" rectangle. Thinking in 2-dimensions is much more plausible for inspectors than thinking in 3-dimensions. It would be nearly impossible for an inspector to differentiate between a team who achieved their super-thin plastic via rolling, vs a team who purchased a sheet of super-thin plastic larger than 12"x24".

Thus, using multiple 12"x24" sheets (or a single sheet larger than 12"x24") of a thinner thickness is not permitted, regardless of how the sheet was made.