Quote:
Originally Posted by Nuttyman54
If you make the argument that lead acid batteries are hazardous material and shouldn't be used on robots that may take hard hits, then we shouldn't be allowed to use them at all. It's definitely against FIRST's safety principles to say "yeah it's hazardous and unsafe, but a little bit is OK, just this once."
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If robots didn't have batteries at all, none of them would be taking hard hits (...or soft hits... or be moving at all).
Safety is a matter of risk. It's also a matter of balancing that risk vs. need. One battery to power the robot is a requirement (both by the rules and the physical requirements of a working robot); an extra battery doing the same job that a block of metal could do is not. That risk vs. need balance is very different for the first battery than it is for the second.
Anyhow, you're speaking more to perceived intent behind the rules than the actual rules as written. What do they actually say? In any other context, if a team showed up at inspection with a sealed canister of corrosive fluid on their robot (one that wasn't somehow required, that is), would it pass inspection?