Quote:
Originally Posted by AllenGregoryIV
Yes the failures this year and last year were the 2013 Clippard White tanks. White tanks from Pneuaire, Andymark and others, along with the Black 2014 Clippard tanks have not had failures to my knowledge.
I also understand the risk of plastic tanks in general but there are also risks with many of the systems and tools that we use in competitive robotics. We need to mange the risks in the smartest ways we can to ensure the safety of the participants and spectators.
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The clippard tanks we used were acquired through the AM FIRST Choice program. I believe AM simply re-sells Clippard tanks.
The risk of plastic tanks is obviously controversial. I'll relate a conversation I had with a lawyer when I was interested in selling potato cannons (another hobby of mine). He made a very good point that is very pertinent to this topic.
His professional opinion was that no matter the disclaimer I had customers sign that I could be held liable for any damages or injuries incurred though the use of a potato cannon I made and sold because there is NO NEED for a potato cannon, it's a toy. Car makers are generally safe from accidents and injuries incurred though the use of their cars because there is a genuine NEED to drive one.
In FRC we accept the risk of using a mill, late, welder, lead-acid battery, etc. because we NEED to assume those risks to build a robust and competitive robot. We do not have to accept the risk of creating shrapnel by using a plastic tank when metal tanks are available. The only functional difference is weight, and weight can be shed elsewhere in basically every robot design that I've ever seen.