Re: battery re-do match at msf
 

If anyone were to ask, I would recommend a shutdown under this situation. Any damage of the battery case can cause leaking, heat or explosion. Therefore any battery not contained within a robot represents a hazard. These batteries contain sulpheric acid in a glass mat. When these batteries are damaged, cases cracked and plates pushed together, they leak, ooze, smell bad and get very, very hot. anything that can be done to prevent further damage should be undertaken, immediately.
As Mike has pointed out S01 and S03 are pretty clear.
<S03> E-Stop - An Emergency Stop (E-Stop) button is located in each TEAM'S Player Station.
Pressing an E-Stop button will cause the TEAM'S ROBOT to be disabled for the remainder
of the MATCH. The E-Stop buttons are intended for remote shut down during a MATCH in
the event of safety hazards and will not otherwise affect MATCH score or duration. Any
TEAM member or referee may press the E-Stop button.

Re: battery re-do match at msf
 

In my discussion with the head referee after the match, his plan was to call a penalty and give a yellow card for breaking the box. The FTA called the field fault for safety reasons; whatever discussion that occured did not include the head ref. After the fact it became an "oh well, let's just move on" type of scenario. This is just something that needs to be clarified at Atlanta.

It is somewhat important that this call was made twice at the Troy District event as well. However, there the battery fell completely out of the robot, so that could have been more of a percieved hazard. After the second battery ejection the robot started the match disabled as a preventative measure.

Re: battery re-do match at msf
 

Here is a picture from the Detroit Free Press photo gallery:

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/g...arams=Itemnr=7

Re: battery re-do match at msf
 

This is another example of people not knowing the rules and making their own up on the fly. There should have been a robot shutdown and a penalty for exceeding the max robot size. This was questioned immediately by those watching the webcast and should have been a simple decision for a head Ref with as much experience as he has. That said, the FTA should never be involved with the match once it starts and if the decision was made by the FTA then FIRST should be training them a bit better.

Re: battery re-do match at msf
 

Slightly off-topic, but I have to disagree here: Crush a gel cell and very nasty stuff gets splashed around.

A screwdriver causes a puncture. A 120 lb robot at 12 FPS will more likely crush, not puncture. Although unlikely, a worst case could have gelled sulphuric acid squirted over several square yards.

Don