[Jon Stratis]

As others have said, this would be illegal. The intent, as I read it, of R53 is one of safety- we need to know that the robot will cooperate in a predictable way when connected to the field (for example the field says stop and the motors all stop), and we need to know that the components can handle the current the motor is going to be pulling. As such, this is something I could see as being something teams could lobby the HTC to change in future years- an appropriately rated limit switch wouldn't prevent the motor from stopping. The trick is finding an appropriately rated limit switch and ensuring inspectors can verify rinsing catch on fire while on the field.

Using the limit switch into a jag helps, as it takes it out of the programmers control. Additionally, we've always designed in a hard stop that would force the motor to stall before a mechanism ripped itself apart. This was also a good place for the limit switch, as the hard stop can help prevent a mechanical failure of the switch. Leave it stalled long enough and the mechanism might still year itself apart, but the hard stop gives you a small buffer for the code to respond to the limit switch.

Where possible, potentiometer or absolute encoders can also come in handy for helping to control a mechanism and limit its range of motion.