Requirements next year?

[havenguy]

Right, that makes sense. You mean people appealing about the draft rules, not the real rules, right?

[rjm]

Releasing draft rules serves no purpose and simply invites confusion. Confusing draft rules with final rules causes teams to show up at competitions with the wrong structures, and then it's too late to fix it. We'll have enough problems when coaches go home from the summer institute with near-final drafts which still aren't right.

Jeff said it best. If you want to work on towers or any returning event over the summer, and if you are having fun with that, then practice what you know and perfect that. Returning event rules usually have incremental changes, so last year's rules are the groundwork.

Adding in a new additional variable next year will not invalidate the old variables. The challenge of revising this event is to give teams strategic choices which are relevant to design, significant to the underlying engineering concepts, and capable of multiple excellent solutions. The challenge of material selection, workmanship, attention to detail, everything else which make the structure events so good, will always be there for you to practice. So be patient and enjoy the summer.

Bob Monetza
Grand Haven, MI

[chalker]

They aren't releasing draft rules this year.

Nor have they been 'publicly' released in any year. This is nothing new.

[lord_voldy]

I've been involved in this stuff for a couple years, now, and after examining the cycles of requirements, I think that they are going to want the towers to be shorter and hold more weight, but they will be allowed to be wider (for their base). I also have some "insider" information. Anyway, best of luck to you all! I'm not competing this year, so I hope you have as much fun as I have had!

[chalker7]

I've been involved in this stuff for a couple years, now, and after examining the cycles of requirements, I think that they are going to want the towers to be shorter and hold more weight, but they will be allowed to be wider (for their base). I also have some "insider" information. Anyway, best of luck to you all! I'm not competing this year, so I hope you have as much fun as I have had!

Your "insider" information is incorrect. What you are describing is more like an elevated bridge, which was an event several years ago. At minimum, we would not change the dimensions of the base for Towers so teams and supervisors would not have to build/purchase new testing equipment.

The printed rules will be out soon enough, but some of the theories discussed earlier in this thread are quite close to what the final version looks like.