questions about designing the beacon support system on the robots

Question

Hello, there are some questions about beacon support system on the robots:

in part F.5."other design constraints" of english-version rules, it is mentioned that: 

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Embedded/ on-board bacon support system : In order to facilitate robot identification in the field, robots must integrate an embedded beacon support system to identify the beacon of the opposing team. This support system must respect the following points:

• have a convex hullx envelope over the entire height between the top of the robot and the beacon support, with a minimal size of a 70 mm diameter circle and with a maximum size of a 100 mm square;
• be solid and opaque (a material able to intercept the light at least in the infrared spectrum; and opaque for the visible spectrum too, except in case of a justification needed);
•  the embedded beacon support can only accommodate sensor and telecommunication systems. The beacon support must be as hollow as possible. For teams using rotating devices, make sure that the portion of cylinder removed has a height of less than 2 cm (except for the minimum size of the envelope convex), and that it is not possible to see through the mat through this opening.

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what I want to ask are:

1. Our sensor won't rotate, but we need to remove a portion of height of less than 2 cm on the embedded beacon support, for the purpose of using the sensor. Is this allowed ?

2. According to the rules, the 2cm height removed portion is excluded by the minimum size rules (this portion can be smaller than a 70 mm diameter circle); but it is also mentioned that the opening must not be seen through. how to decide whether we can see through this opening? which means, what is the defination of "see through the opening"?

Thanks!

Answer 1

Hello!

1-yes you can remove a part for your detection systems.

2-"see through the opening" means that we can be able to see trought the beacon support by this opening. Because if we can see trought the support, how a lidar can detect the robot if le laser pass trought?

Comments

Thanks for answering.

Just to make sure I understand it correctly, for the second question, do you mean that "the 2cm height removed portion may be designed  in any size and shape smaller than a 70mm circle, but there must be something exist to be detected by lidars" ?

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As a matter of supporting fair play, you should try to help the other teams to easily detect your robots. (This is the reasoning behind the rules, often called spirit of the rules)

Within those mentioned 2cm you can deviate from the minimum requirement to facilitate your opponent detection system. This should be done with the following mindset:

Only remove as much as you absolutely need.

This will help other teams to detect your robot and in the best case prevent a crash.