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Unread 10-12-2013, 20:03
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Re: Battery powered raspberry pi

Quote:
Originally Posted by techhelpbb View Post
I've contacted them in the past about making several things for FIRST: electronic motor controls, robot based oscilloscopes, the 2015 FRC control system. FIRST's requirement for a COTS device is that production is available to be adequate for all takers. There is no line to blur. You want to claim something is COTS you are then selling it to *anyone* with all that entails.
Added emphasis, as this is a point I'd like to address. One reason in particular that FIRST would be fine with having extra batteries integral to COTS components on the robot vs. teams fabricating their own devices with "integral batteries" is because there is already an element of safety to COTS devices.

A laptop or tablet manufacturer will have already designed out the risk to the lithium batteries in their device; they will have dropped and kicked and abused the devices to the point of failure many times over to ensure it is safe for the end user. While putting their device on a FIRST robot might not have been their intent, the forces involve should be pretty similar to the abuse the device will take in the real world.

The manufacturer is confident enough in their device that they're willing to take on liability when selling it.

Yash, you might be excited to take on the challenge of designing, prototyping, manufacturing and selling this device. You need to appreciate how dangerous lithium batteries are. Even if you pick a different chemistry, safety is still a very real concern for any electrical circuit. So much so, that you may even succeed in everything you do - build a working prototype, design it for manufacture-ability and all that, only to find that no one wants to take the risk in selling your device, so it never becomes COTS.

Just a heads up.
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