Re: Near-death experiences or injuries during build season?
 

I once leaned over the shoulder of a programmer pointed at a random part of his screen and said "You sure that bit of code is right?"
I shouldn't be alive...

Re: Near-death experiences or injuries during build season?
 

In 2013, our team couldn't decide between a driving robot that scored frisbees, or a non-driver that climbed to the top of the pyramid. We split into two teams that built competing bots. The climber was to be made of springs and levers, and was sort of shaped like a monkey. Unfortunately the springs couldn't get enough force without being tremendously strong. We finally quit building when I realized that, as I was pre-tensioning the arm, I would die of my injuries were I to slip and let the arm go.

Re: Near-death experiences or injuries during build season?
 

The only times I've been hurt on our Bridgeport mill is when I accidentally poke my hand against a cutter while taking it out. I've never gotten a deep vut from that either.
That being said, on the really big machines a small mistake could be huge. Leaving a large chuck key in a lathe can turn it into something comparable to a cannonball. Just look up "lathe accident" on google images if you're not scared by blood (or severed limbs).
Now last year, a second-year team member put his hand in running chain. I'm not really sure why, but his hand was a little cut up after that.

Re: Near-death experiences or injuries during build season?
 

Not quite during build season but on Christmas eve I broke my femur. If the broken bone severs one of the main arteries that runs down your leg you can bleed out in 20 mins so I've been told. This was my rookie year.

Re: Near-death experiences or injuries during build season?
 

There are a couple of good ones over here:

Two years ago at Regionals, me and another person were carrying out a robot onto the field when I tripped on the dolly it had been carried on. I fell halfway down and effectively caught my end of the robot with my calf. While this didn't break the skin, it did hurt a lot and left a pretty impressive bruise. Fortunately, the robot was okay, which is the important part.

Last year, we were using a spring-loaded catapult to throw our ball. The device was pulled back with a pretty powerful winch (~350lbs of force) because the springs were really strong. A member of our team got his finger caught between the bottom of the mechanism and the catapult, and the end of his finger was nearly crushed off. There was lots of blood loss and he ended up going into shock despite our best efforts... which was unbelievably scary. Fortunately, both him and his finger are doing better, though his fingernail will never be the same.

We're trying to take safety a little more seriously this year... so far, everyone seems to be more safety-conscious than last year. We'll see if we can get through the build season without incident. I really hope so.

Re: Near-death experiences or injuries during build season?
 

My freshman year I was milling holes for one of our parts, after I turned off the mill i grabbed the brush to move the filings ( I saw someone else do the same thing) I didn't know how to fully stop the mill, it caught the brush pulled my hand in, I let go and the brush spun and hit me in the face. Thank God I had eye protection!

Re: Near-death experiences or injuries during build season?
 

Yesterday I'd welded a decent-sized piece of aluminum and needed to sharpen the electrode. I took off my gloves and removed the electrode, but when I turned on the sharpening wheel the breaker tripped.

So I unplugged it, got a stool to reach the overhead rail (where the breaker is located), and then, in an aborted attempt to heft myself up, put my hand on the table--and my fingertips right on the piece.

Certainly not a near-death experience, but a gentle reminder (of the melted skin variety) that when you weld aluminum it gets rather toasty.

Re: Near-death experiences or injuries during build season?
 

In the days of the USB E-stop button, the team hot-glued the button down to the control panel.

Then came a day when it was needed. Robot ran away, button was mashed, and it did NOTHING. We e-stopped it with the keyboard. A later investigation showed that when the button was glued to the control panel, so much hot glue was used that it infiltrated the bottom case of the button and locked in it place.

Re: Near-death experiences or injuries during build season?
 

We have a First Aid component of our safety training... One of the biggest points is that we don't want to call 911 each time a student arrives a little early and decides to take a nap on the shop floor... Then again, somebody, at some point is going to spill a large amount of Mountain Dew on some active electrical equipment and...... we don't want to mistake him/her for a student napping on the floor.

Re: Near-death experiences or injuries during build season?
 

I feel like the problem here isn't in recognizing whether the person is napping or not, but restricting where you allow people to take naps. Taking naps at Robotics is fine (I guess) but really there are plenty of better spots to nap than on the floor in the shop.

Re: Near-death experiences or injuries during build season?
 

Well, as anyone who has taken any first-aid, CPR, or similar type of course can tell you: verify that the person is non-responsive before calling 911. It takes 10-15 seconds and saves a lot of grief.

Not that sleeping on the shop floor is a good idea though...