Quote:
Originally Posted by Jengles
At the pit we have been having to test our robot, mainly the shooter, and this can be dangerous as some of the team members haven't been hearing us say that its 'hot'. One team member found an adjustable beeper that is always 5 db above the backround noise, and was asking whether he should buy it. My question is that are these noise makers legal, and does anybody have any actual rules that go against it.
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I would most certainly say do
not do this. While there may be a bit of ambiguity regarding the legality, i would think that
FIRST would not appreciate this, nor would the regional nor the neighboring pits.
Honestly, i don't see the problem here. You can yell "Enabling!" or whatever floats your boat. Have the few mentors/students that know the dangers inform the people nearby them and act as "bouncers" to your robot. No one on your team should be touching your robot while it's running, let alone put their body/appendages near it. Furthermore, you could add polycarbonate protectors around the shooter/motor/whatever is "hot" (your unclear description of the danger kind of frightens me. maybe you could elaborate on the technical/electrical issue?) to make it harder for there to be danger. And surely you'd have some kind of meeting before your next competition to make sure that anyone in the pits is aware of safety hazards. Also, pretty much the only people in the pits, minus some of the "chairman's team" that talks to judges, should be tech-related students that know what's going on with the robot.
In short: Who cares about the legality, because they're not needed. Educate the students. Be proactive. Be safe.
Hope this helps,
-Duke