[PhilBot]

Originally Posted by Coach Doug

The ground cable was nothing more than a wire ( 18 gauge maybe? ) that grounded the chassis to ground ( bare wire on chassis and stripped/bare wire dragging on mat ).

I know from our robot we would get shocked during practice - i believe the theory was to help save samantha.

The "Ground the frame" theory is OK, but that assumes that it's the robot that is charged up, and not the person. Since the electronics are isolated from the frame, I guess I don't see how grounding the frame helps. My experience is that any sparks were usually between the frame and the person. Not sure how the ground wire protects the Samantha module.

On our robot, most (if not all) of the wiring is shrouded by metal or Poly. It's almost impossible to touch the electronics without first touching the frame. I think this offers more protection than just grounding the frame. It

I also noticed that a LOT of the robots that HAD attached the grounding strap had passed over obstacles, so the strap was no longer touching the ground. I guess that's why they use chains on busses.