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I'm not as afraid of flying Frisbees as much as I am of flying debris from shooter wheels coming apart, especially in the pits.

I have seen enough videos of wheels rotating at insane speeds that they were never designed to rotate at and then contacting a hard plastic disk.

If one of these come apart in the pits it could be devistating

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My team shot Dean in the head with a Moon Rock @ the 2009 championship practice field.He aparrently drove onto the practice field on a Segway and took one right upside his head driving up to the robot.
Way to go kids!:rolleyes:

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This is from another thread..
How many teams do we think did this? This concerns me.

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Entirely too many, I fear.

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After the week 0, human player blizzard game change, its going to be difficult for FIRST to argue that they thought of every reasonable safety scenario and took precautions. Is this the only one they missed or did they miss others?

If someone tries to cross the practice in front of robot that can fire 4 disks in less than 2 seconds they might get hit 2 or 3 times.

If a robot with its shooter deck tipped 60 degrees accidentally fires a high velocity shot, they could take out a light fixture and rain glass down on the practice field.

We've already talked about the high speed spinning wheels and getting robots down from the practice tower.

I must assume FIRST does a thorough safety review of their games designs, but in this case it sure looks like there are chances for injury that are more than just remote possibilities.

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I *really* don't think this year's game has to be a lesson in game-design safety. I think its possible to do it safely (and have more fun games as a result). People need to think about safety when designing though. 5k+ rpm flywheels using materials never designed for that velocity is a recipe for problems. Don't get me wrong, go ahead and use an 8" AM Pneumatic wheel if you'd like, but run it slower, and ensure you build in some shrapnel containment shielding to prevent errant bits of shooter wheel from flying at your field staff. A typical 1/4oz automotive stick-on wheel weight will be an awful lot like a bullet if ejected from a shooter wheel at 5000rpm.

I feel like 2013's game is going to be among the most exciting to watch that I've ever participated in since 2003, and everyone seems to think 2006 is king for that as of yet. I hope we can pull it off safely so we can have more games like it.

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Am I the only one who thinks that this year we will see a robot fall from the pyramid?

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Read koko Ed's first post in this thread. First paragraph.

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From the first post:

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Like many others, I watched the Premier Night videos for dozens of teams and came away with three observations.

1) Team 1986 has built a heck of a robot
2) Just about every robot in FRC now has underglow
3) Some of these teams get an ABSOLUTELY RIDICULOUS amount of zip on their shots

Within hours of kickoff I said I wouldn't be surprised if FIRST instituted a maximum velocity limit in a Team Update. At this point, I am surprised that they still haven't. It is certainly possible to build a full court shooter (and practice safe testing techniques) that minimize the risk of someone losing their teeth. But I have seen many, many teams come very close to major accidents in the past with far less dangerous mechanisms.

I am glad that my wife is volunteering as a pit administrator rather than a queuer next weekend. Because it is only a matter of time before someone's (a student? volunteer? VIP? someone's young child in the bleachers?) head is split open by one of these frisbee howitzers. 6oz hard plastic discs are not foam basketballs.

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We used to think we were cool. :)

-John

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I feel slightly embarrassed for missing that.:(

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You guys stopped thinking you are cool?

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It happens to the best of us :D

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Emphasis mine. I was at the Georgia FIRST Scrimmage, and some of the speeds that the teams were shooting out at were insane. It was like they built their shooters to chuck the discs across a football field. Even for cross court shots, they velocities don't need to be that high. I sincerely hope during inspection that unsafe wheeled shooter designs are caught and made safe. If there's an extremely loud *thunk* that can be heard outside of the shop, that's not good.

Also shout out to 1986 and their amazing robot ;)